U.N. squabbles as Rice presses Israel on Gaza

By Sue Pleming

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday she had pressed Israel to seriously consider an Egyptian cease-fire plan for Gaza as the U.N. Security Council struggled to find a common approach.

Rice spoke by telephone on Wednesday to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and said she had detailed discussions with them on the conditions on the ground in Gaza as well as the Egyptian initiative.

"We're supporting that initiative. I've been in very close discussions with my Arab colleagues but also with the Israelis about the importance of moving that initiative forward," she said.

The plan offered by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak seeks to end the 12-day offensive that Israel launched with the declared aim of suppressing rocket fire from Hamas Islamist militants on its southern towns.

In Israel, officials said they accepted the "principles" of the proposal, but the details needed to be worked out.

Rice said she had also spoken to the Israelis about the need for a pause in violence, as happened on Wednesday for three hours, to allow for humanitarian aid to get through.

"That needs to be repeated again and again," she said of the three-hour truce.

Rice, who extended her visit to New York, also sought to convince Arab ministers at the United Nations there was no need to move ahead with a Libyan-drafted resolution on Gaza which the United States and others view as strongly anti-Israeli.