Geneva - The UN rights chief is gravely concerned over the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon and wants a “permanent ceasefire” there and in war-ravaged Gaza, his spokesman said Tuesday. “The high commissioner reiterates his call for an immediate ceasefire to put an end to the killings and the destruction,” Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for Volker Turk, told reporters in Geneva. His comment came as Israel’s security cabinet was due to meet to vote on a proposed ceasefire with Hezbollah in its war in Lebanon, with the White House voicing optimism that a deal was close. The United States, European Union and United Nations have pushed in recent days for a truce in the long-running hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which escalated into full-scale war in late September.