UN chief to meet with Israeli, Palestinian leaders to push for Gaza truce

 UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon, who is currently on a visit to the Middle East, will meet with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to support the Egyptian- led goal of an early cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian militants¹ in the Gaza Strip, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Monday.

"The secretary-general is in the region to support Egyptian-led efforts and he will be speaking to (Palestinian) President ( Mahmoud) Abbas in Ramallah and with the Israeli leadership in Jerusalem," Nesirky, who is with the secretary-general on his visit to Egypt, told reporters here by telephone from Cairo.

However, Ban "is not going to Gaza," the focus of recently escalated² violence between the Israelis and Palestinian militants, the spokesman said. "I'm not going to give you a precise itinerary³. "

Nesirky was asked if Ban would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin and Abbas, he replied, "He will. That's the plan. I can't tell you exactly when but that is certainly the plan."

Saying the secretary-general, his advisers⁴ and aides "are literally⁵ just off the airplane," Nesirky said they were on their way to a "working dinner" with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr.

Amr was to head a delegation⁶ of Arab foreign ministers to Gaza on Tuesday.

Ban was scheduled to meet Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil also Tuesday, Nesirky said.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were reported to have killed since Wednesday more than 90 Palestinians and wounded as many as 700 more. Three Israelis were killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

"I think the violence that we've seen, the depth of and injuries to civilians⁸ that we've seen both in Gaza and in Israel just underscores the reason why he's (Ban) come, which is to support efforts to really reach a cease-fire that will hold as soon as possible," Nesirky said. "Obviously what we've seen in the last 24-36 hours is further bloodshed, further rockets coming out and further airstrikes and other kind of strikes that entered into Gaza."

"There have been civilian⁷ casualties, and all of that is regrettable and all of that is precisely⁹ why the secretary-general wishes to push this diplomatic effort, give his, lend his support, his diplomatic weight to these efforts that involve obviously the Egyptian president and others and of course Israeli interlocutors, " the spokesman added.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

3 itinerary   

n.行程表，旅行路线；旅行计划

参考例句：

• The two sides have agreed on the itinerary of the visit.双方商定了访问日程。
• The next place on our itinerary was Silistra.我们行程的下一站是锡利斯特拉。

4 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

9 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。