Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza, saying the Jewish state's air raids could not be considered self defense.

"Israel is committing ethnic cleansing by ignoring peace in this region and violating international law," Erdogan said. "It is occupying the Palestinian territory step by step."

Israel is solely responsible for the conflict in Gaza and should be tried for "war crimes," Iran said on Tuesday while stressing that the Palestinians must be "armed to defend" themselves.

"Neither Iran nor Hamas seek conflict or war, or aim to endanger the lives of innocent people," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in his weekly briefing.

China backed calls Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza conflict and urged the U.N. Security Council and the international community to bring peace to the region.

A statement by China's Foreign Ministry came as senior Israeli ministers decided overnight to hold off from launching a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to give Egyptian-led truce efforts a chance to work.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will leave Asia on Tuesday to visit Israel, Egypt and Ramallah, stepping up U.S. 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.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged all sides to the Gaza conflict to immediately cease their fire, warning at a news conference in Cairo that an escalation will endanger the whole region.

"All sides must halt fire immediately," Ban said, as an Israeli military operation against rocket-firing militants in Gaza entered a seventh day, with 116 Palestinians and three Israelis killed.

President Michel Suleiman will address the Lebanese people on Wednesday on the eve of Independence Day where he will stress the necessity to spare Lebanon any regional repercussions following Monday's discovery of rockets set up to be fired against Israel, unnamed sources told An Nahar daily Tuesday.

The president is expected to reiterate the need to spare Lebanon the repercussions of the thorny Syrian crisis and Israeli aggression on Gaza, but he will renew Lebanon's solidarity with the Palestinian cause, the sources added.

Israel's President Shimon Peres accused Iran Monday of encouraging the Palestinians to continue rocket attacks on Israel rather than negotiating a ceasefire, saying "they are out of their mind."

At the same time, Peres praised Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi for the constructive role he has played in the intensifying crisis.

Hizbullah Leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah criticized on Monday Arab countries that “are sending weaponry to Syria but have not aided Gaza with one bullet”, attacking Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani's “sheep” comments.

In a speech he gave on the fifth day of Ashoura, Nasrallah said Arab nations should have contributed in “arming Gaza and supporting its fighters instead of calling for a mediation between it and the Israeli enemy”.

Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali commented on Monday on PM Najib Miqati's visit to France, saying that “the Lebanese cabinet is the one to decide what to do and what not to do”.

“What matters most to us is preserving Lebanese-Syrian ties and maintaining security on our border,” Ali added after meeting Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United Nations on Monday of failing to act over the deadly Israeli air bombardments of Gaza, calling Israeli a "terrorist state" that "massacres innocent children".

He accused the U.N. Security Council of "turning a blind eye" to the suffering of Muslims across the world and called for "sincere action" to end Israel's strikes on Gaza, where 90 Palestinians died since violence erupted on Wednesday, while three Israelis have been killed in militant rocket fire.