UN Chief Ban: May take `few more days` to work out details of Gaza truce

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said on Thursday that it might take some days to work out the technical details of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip but he urged Israel and Hamas to stop fighting immediately.

"It may take a few more days to agree to a few more technical issues," Ban told reporters after a series of meetings with Israeli leaders.

He added that he was "reasonably optimistic" the Israelis would decide to accept a ceasefire but urged both Israel and Hamas to "stop fighting now".

Ban said he discussed Gaza in telephone calls with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has been negotiating a truce with Israel and Hamas, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"(Mubarak) thought that they were they were going very close to a conclusion, to a ceasefire," Ban said. "But there seem to be some other detailed technical issues which need to be further elaborated and agreed."

But he urged both Israel and Hamas to stop their fighting before any such technical details are worked out.

"They first should stop the fighting, agree to an immediate ceasefire and continue their negotiations," Ban said.

The issue of how long the ceasefire would last, he said, did not seem to be a problem. More difficult were issues such as preventing the illegal smuggling of weapons into Gaza, he said.

"I don't think the duration of ceasefire is a serious problem at this time," he said.

Ban was also asked what he thought of Israeli suggestions that Palestinian militants may have been firing at Israeli soldiers from the roof of the U.N. aid compound in Gaza, which Israeli forces shelled on Thursday.

The U.N. chief dismissed the idea, saying, "These cannot be convincing explanations."

Earier Thursday, Ban said that the elements for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip were in place, but the success of any initiative was dependent on Israel's political will.

Ban told reporters during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that his talks with regional leaders in Jordan, Egypt and Israel gave him the impression that a truce could be reached in the near future.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak apologized to Ban earlier Thursday after Israeli forces shelled the main UN aid compound in the city of Gaza, Ban told reporters.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said its compound, where up to 700 Palestinians were being sheltered, was hit twice by fire and three staff members were wounded.

Ban, visiting Israel as part of a diplomatic drive for a cease-fire in Gaza, said he had protested strongly to Barak, who apologized and told him it was a "grave mistake".

"I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and the foreign minister and demanded a full explanation," Ban said, adding that he had demanded an investigation into the shelling.

"The defense minister said to me it was a grave mistake and he took it very seriously. He assured me that extra attention will be paid to U.N. facilities and staff and this will not be repeated."

UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness said after the shelling of the compound that the agency had put a hold on vehicle movements, but was not suspending aid operations.

Ban met Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni earlier Thursday and was to hold talks with other Israeli leaders later in the day, as part of his visit to states around the region involved in finding a solution for ending the 20 day war.

Last week, IDF bombed another UNRWA facility in the northern Strip, the Fakhura girls school in Jabalya, killing dozens of people.

The army said that soldiers had attacked the building after militants fired mortars at troops from inside the school. The bodies of militants were found inside, it added.

A few days later, the United Nations announced that Israeli military officers have admitted there was no Palestinian gunfire emanating from inside the school at the time of the shelling.

The UNRWA is now demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law, and if so, that those responsible stand trial.

In a separate incident last Thursday, a Palestinian working for the UNRWA was killed by an IDF tank shell while driving an aid truck at the Erez border crossing. The organization claims the UN truck was well-marked and the incident took place during the humanitarian hiatus slated to allow Gaza residents to acquire supplies .