Nasheed, who is the interim president of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said on twitter that 12 Maldivians had gone to Sri Lanka – then known as Ceylon – to “defend” the neighbouring country in 1943. “There is no reason” for Maldivian soldiers to not go to “defend” Gaza now, he said. “MDP is prepared to go,” the former president said. Israel kept up its punishing raids on Gaza Monday, but held off from a threatened ground incursion as the world intensified efforts to broker a truce. With Israel's campaign to halt cross-border rocket fire entering its seventh day Monday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was to discuss moves to seek UN intervention at an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. And UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to scrap plans for a ground offensive, saying "too many" Palestinian civilians had been killed as the death toll from Israel's punishing air campaign hit 172, with another 1,230 wounded. The latest escalation began on June 12 when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered, triggering a crackdown on Hamas in the West Bank and an uptick of rocket fire from Gaza, which worsened after a Palestinian teen was killed by Jewish extremists on July 2.