Clinton to visit Middle East for Gaza talks: US

PHNOM PENH: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will leave Asia on Tuesday to visit Israel, Egypt and Ramallah, stepping up US efforts to avoid a worsening of the Gaza crisis, an official said.

Clinton will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discuss the crisis with Egyptian and Palestinian leaders, after leaving President Barack Obama's trip to Southeast Asia, said senior Obama aide Ben Rhodes.

Obama made the decision to send Clinton after speaking to Netanyahu and twice to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, after leaving East Asia summit meetings on Monday night, said Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser.

The US president, on a mission to reinforce his foreign policy pivot to Asia, has made repeated calls to Middle Eastern leaders in recent days about a crisis which he says was precipitated by Hamas rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.

Rhodes said Clinton would express the US interest in a peaceful outcome that protects and enhances Israel's security and regional stability, though he stopped short of calling her trip a mediating mission.

"The best way to solve this is through diplomacy, so that you have a peaceful settlement that ends that rocket fire and allows for a broader calm in the region," Rhodes said.