UNITED NATIONS: Calling for an end to “humanitarian suffering in Gaza’’, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that Israel must halt settlement building in the West Bank. ‘’The Palestinian Authority must fulfil its commitment to fight terrorism.

“Speaking to reporters after the return from the London conference on Middle East, he said : “We agreed that there must be urgent progress, if there’s to be any reasonable prospect of building a Palestinian State living side by side with Israel in peace and security,” he noted.

He also expressed his deep concern over the “de facto separation of the two parts of the occupied Palestine territory” as well as over the ongoing violence in Gaza, which faces a dire humanitarian and economic situation.

“It is obvious that a new strategy is required – one which ensures the passage of people, humanitarian and commercial goods, and which leads to the reunification of Gaza with the West Bank within the framework of the legitimate Palestinian Authority,” he observed.