Rice set to go U.N. to work on Gaza ceasefire

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will go to the United Nations on Tuesday to help with international efforts to arrange a ceasefire in Gaza, the State Department said.

"The purpose of her trip is to move forward the international efforts to create a ceasefire in Gaza," said a State Department official, who spoke on condition he not be named.

Rice planned to leave Washington for New York later on Tuesday to meet Arab ministers and other allies and consult with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during her overnight trip.

The top U.S. diplomat will also meet the foreign minister of Turkey, who has been among the leading players working for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which launched a ground offensive into Gaza last weekend.

In addition, Rice will attend a U.N. Security Council meeting set for 5 p.m. EST, the department official said.

While Europeans and Arabs have broadly been calling for an immediate ceasefire in the latest violence, the United States has been urging a "during and sustainable" truce, which would take longer to draw up.

In the Lebanon crisis in 2006, the United States came under strong criticism for not calling for an immediate ceasefire. This was seen as giving Israel a green light to continue pounding Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

(Reporting by Sue Pleming, editing by Philip Barbara)