While a U.N. official praised Israel’s "goodwill" for letting 120 truckloads per day of food and medicine into Gaza, other diplomats decried restrictions on steel and cement imports needed to make repairs after Israel’s 22-day offensive.
Hamas has conditioned abiding by the ceasefire, which took effect on last Sunday, on Israel lifting its crippling blockade.
Israel believes the restrictions at the crossings will give it leverage in Egyptian-mediated negotiations with Hamas to free Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured in 2006.
But Israel finds itself under increasing pressure to do more to ease hardships for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday Gaza’s border crossings should be reopened to both humanitarian and commercial goods under a "monitoring regime" that includes Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, Hamas’s rival.
Obama dispatches his Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, to the region soon to try to shore up the ceasefire, which Israel declared after Washington and European powers promised to help stop Islamist Hamas smuggling in weapons.
Obama on Thursday said an outline for a "durable ceasefire" included Hamas stopping cross-border rocket fire, which Israel had cited as the reason for its Gaza offensive. He also voiced sorrow at civilian suffering in the impoverished territory.
"We had expected Obama to express willingness to talk about the real and the democratically elected representatives of the Palestinian people," said Hamas official Mushir al-Masri.
He urged the new U.S. president to "stand at an equal distance in the Palestinian-Zionist conflict, and break with the flagrant American historical bias."
Source: APA