WASHINGTON, Jan 4 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday he had recalled his special Mideast peace envoy to New York for briefings and convened a meeting of senior advisers on the Gaza crisis. In a statement from his press office, Ban also said he believed the U.N. Security Council had "a central role to play in bringing a speedy end to the conflict," and that he planned further talks with Council members and Arab leaders to try to end the fighting. He also said he was concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and had asked Israeli authorities to open three border crossings to allow in grain, power plant fuel and other essential supplies. Ban said he wants the special envoy, Robert Serry, to "brief me in New York on the situation on the ground as well as diplomatic efforts underway." The secretary-general's comments follow the failure on Saturday of an effort by Libya to ask the U.N. Security Council at an emergency meeting to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after Israel launched a ground invasion. The United States refused to back the motion during the four-hour meeting, diplomats said on Saturday. "I regret that the Security Council has not been able to reach a consensus, including during its emergency session held yesterday evening, in order to bring about an end to the violence," Ban said on Sunday. "I will be working actively with members of the Council and other key players, in particular Arab leaders who I am seeing tomorrow at United Nations Headquarters, to facilitate the emergence of a consensus." Libya, the only Arab member of the council, had circulated a draft statement urging all parties "to observe an immediate ceasefire." But diplomats said the United States refused to back the Libyan-drafted text and killed the initiative, since council statements must be passed unanimously. Later the United States refused to back a watered-down call for a truce, the diplomats said. U.S. ADAMANT ON HAMAS The United States, one of five permanent Security Council members, insists that any statement or resolution say the Palestinian militant group Hamas is a terrorist organization that seized power in Gaza from the legitimate Palestinian Authority. U.S. envoy Alejandro Wolff said on Saturday there was no point in issuing statements that Hamas, which unilaterally declared an end to a six-month old ceasefire last month, would ignore. Libya and other Arab states oppose the U.S. view, leaving the 15-nation Security Council deadlocked on the Gaza crisis. Israel launched the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, sending tanks and infantry into battle with Hamas fighters, who have defied eight days of deadly air strikes with salvos of rocket fire into Israeli towns. Israel insists its Gaza action aims to halt Hamas rocket attacks. The strip is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. The offensive has killed at least 500 Palestinians, including a growing number of civilians, according to Gaza medical officials. Four Israelis have been killed since Dec. 27 by rockets that continue to pound southern Israel. (Writing by Eric Walsh, editing by Vicki Allen)
Israeli armoured military vehicles move towards the border with the Gaza Strip January 4, 2009. Israeli tanks and infantry battled Hamas fighters in the Gaza Strip on Sunday in a ground ...
Israel
