The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it will take part in a Qatari-proposed Arab summit on the Gaza crisis in Doha as the U.N. Secretary General arrived in Egypt for on the start of a regional tour aimed at ending the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, reported Alarabiya.
The UAE's decision came a day after Egypt and Saudi Arabia appeared to shun the Qatari proposal.
Ban's trip comes amid fears of an escalation of the conflict, now in its 19th day and with almost 1,000 Palestinians killed, after a second rocket attack in less than a week from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Wednesday.
"The UAE has agreed to attend the extraordinary Arab summit that is planned to be held in Doha on Friday," said a statement carried by WAM state news agency.
In Cairo, an Arab League official told AFP that with the UAE decision to attend, 14 countries had now said they would take part, meaning that with the host country the two-thirds quorum needed for an extraordinary summit had been reached.
Qatar on Monday called for an emergency Arab summit in Doha to discuss Israel's deadly offensive in Gaza that has killed nearly 1,000 Palestinians.
But the leaders of the region's heavyweights, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, said on Tuesday they supported discussing the Gaza situation in an Arab summit scheduled to be held in Kuwait on Jan. 19.
Arab governments are divided in their stance towards Hamas, which took control of Gaza in a coup against president Mahmud Abbas' Palestinian Authority in June 2007.
Meanwhile Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, at the start of a tour that will also include Israel, Jordan and Syria.
The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday gave Ban strong support for implementation of Security Council Resolution 1860 which called last week for an immediate ceasefire but was ignored both by the Jewish state and the Islamist Hamas.
U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said that Ban's goal during his tour was "to step up the pace of joint diplomatic efforts regarding Gaza and southern Israel."
She said Ban renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the Gaza population without restrictions.
Ban had earlier called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Friday to express disappointment over Israel's defiance of the Security Council's call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, his spokeswoman said Friday.
After Cairo, the U.N. chief is to fly to Jordan, Israel, the West Bank city of Ramallah, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Kuwait, where he was to attend the Arab League summit on Monday.