UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging all Palestinian parties to resume a dialogue for national unity following the announcement of a cease-fire in Gaza.
Ban lauded Egypt on Tuesday "for its continuing efforts to calm a volatile and worrying situation," in a statement issued by his spokesperson Michele Montas. "He calls for all parties to abide by the terms of the cease-fire and to move quickly back to the process of national dialogue in the pursuit of national unity."
Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the Security Council last week that the pendulum in the Occupied Palestinian Territory had swung between increased civil conflict and attempts to create national unity, with factional tension reaching heightened levels in mid-December and again in early January.
Incidents included the killing of three children as they left for school, a shootout between gunmen in Rafah as Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh returned from a regional tour, and a siege on the home of an official in Gaza, which killed the official and several others, he said.
Internal violence had been accompanied by heightened and negative political rhetoric and threats, and the strengthening of factional forces, said Gambari.
More than 40 people have died from inter-Palestinian violence over the past month.
