UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday slammed Israeli settlement building and warned against “provocations” at Jerusalem’s holy sites, calling for renewed peace talks to avoid further conflict with the Palestinians.
Ban was in the West Bank city of Ramallah where he met Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, a day after a Cairo conference at which international donors pledged USD 5.4 billion to rebuild the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
“The amount that has been committed, pledged by the international community is quite encouraging,” Ban said at a joint news conference with Hamdallah.
The funds would go towards the “urgently needed” reconstruction of infrastructure and homes, he said, referring to an “unprecedented” level of destruction in Gaza where nearly 2,200 Palestinians were killed in the 50-day war in July and August.
But “while rebuilding is important, we must tackle the root causes of instability,” Ban said.