Israel pledges to 'ease' Gaza blockade
Updated on 17 June 2010
Israel has announced it will 'ease' its land blockade of Gaza, allowing in more goods by land but it will keep the sea blockade intact. However Hamas has described the move as "media propaganda".
Israel says it is to 'ease' its land blockade of the Gaza Strip. In a statement issued after a two day security cabinet meeting it said it had agreed to expand the inflow into Gaza of 'materials for civilian projects that are under international supervision' via it's land border crossing points.
The naval blockade will remain in place.
Israel had been facing international calls to ease or lift its Gaza embargo following the killing by Israeli commandos of nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists during the interception at sea of an aid convoy on 31 May.
Today's announcement had been flagged by the International Middle East Envoy Tony Blair earlier this week.
Speaking outside the EU foreign minsters meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, he said Israel would be moving from the existing "prohibited' list which allowed the stopping of most goods into Gaza to a 'permitted' list. He called the change in emphasis 'significant'.
The new list is understood to include all food items, toys, stationery, kitchen utensils, mattresses and towels. It is also thought to allow in limited building materials for civilian projects such as cement for the first time, but only under international supervision.
The previous 'prohibited' list had banned the supply of all construction materials like cement and steel as Israel has long argued that Hamas could use them to build weapons and fortifications.
In Gaza itself Hamas was unimpressed, calling the measures "media propaganda".
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said some of the goods that will now be allowed in were "trivial and secondary".
"What is needed is a complete lifting of the blockade," he said.
Goods and people must be free to enter and leave. Gaza especially needs construction material, which must be allowed to come in without restrictions," he added.
A spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) declined to comment other than to say "We will have to see on the ground how it is being implemented."
