Hillary Clinton is en route to the Middle East to join efforts to secure a cease-fire betweenIsrael and Hamas.
For the past six days, Israel has been firing missiles into the Gaza Strip in an offensive aimed at stopping rocket fire from militants inside the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
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The tit-for-tat rocket fire has killed more than 100 Palestinians — many of them civilians — and three Israelis, and wounded hundreds more.
Secretary of State Clinton is expected to arrive in Israel on Tuesday night and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday,the Jerusalem Post reported, citing a source.
President Barack Obama sent Clinton from Cambodia, where she had joined the president for meetings with Asian leaders.
The White House said that aside from her meeting with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Clinton would meet with Palestinian officials in Ramallah and Egyptian leaders in Cairo, according to the Associated Press.
Talks are already under way in Cairo involving UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby.
Ban on Tuesday called for an immediate cease-fire, and warned that while Israel has “legitimate security concerns” a ground operation — would be a “dangerous escalation” that would “only result in further tragedy.”
He before adding that
Ban spoke at a news conference in Cairo after talks with . Later on Tuesday, the UN secretary-general will travel to Israel for talks with Netanyahu.
This story was originally published by Global Post.