Visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Saturday that a durable and fully respected ceasefire must be struck immediately to end the Israeli offensive on Gaza Strip.

There must be an "immediate ceasefire according to UN Security Council Resolution 1860," the UN chief said while addressing the Lebanese lawmakers in the parliament building, stressing that the ceasefire should be "durable and fully respected by all parties."

"Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and Israel must stop its offensive in Gaza and withdraw its troops," Ban said, referring to the key terms of the UN resolution passed last week.

Touching on the heavy casualties of the Palestinians in the ongoing Israeli offensive, Ban said "more than 1,000 people have been killed ... in less than three weeks."

He expressed his "protest and outrage" against the attack, adding "there is no place left to bury the dead" and "we have no time to lose."

According to Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein, the death toll since the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Gaza has risen to 1190, with an addition of 5200 wounded.

"There is no military solutions to regional problems," Ban concluded, requesting Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian and Arab regions since 1967.

Lebanon is the six stop of the UN chief's mediation tour on the Gaza war, which has already taken him to Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories and Turkey.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2009)