Israeli ministers weigh easing Gaza blockade

Israel's security cabinet met on Wednesday to consider easing the Gaza blockade, officials said, in the face of world pressure for change since a deadly raid on an aid flotilla to the territory last month.

Ministers may approve a plan to expand a list of more than 100 goods Israel permits the Hamas-ruled territory to import across its border, in coordination with Tony Blair, an official said.

The former British prime minister is the envoy for the Quartet of international powers -- the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia -- seeking peace in the region.

Blair, who held talks last week with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Monday that Israel had agreed in principle to begin easing the blockade "in days".

Israeli cabinet minister Isaac Herzog, who has called for the lifting of the blockade, told Army Radio on Wednesday, "We must understand that the blockade implemented until this time is outdated, and no longer applicable in the current international and diplomatic climate."

Herzog said on Tuesday that Israel had informed Blair, who briefed EU foreign ministers on Monday, that it intends to "permit an easier passage of goods" to the Gaza Strip.

Israel imposed the blockade soon after Hamas, which has rejected Western calls to recognise the Jewish state's right to exist, won legislative elections in 2006. Restrictions were tightened after Hamas seized power in Gaza the following year.

The EU wants Israel to move from a policy of banning the entry of many commercial goods into Gaza, except a few designated items, to accepting all products and prohibiting only those proscribed on a list.

Israel has said it wants to prevent the Iranian-backed Hamas from smuggling in any weapons, and officials say Israel would continue to ban the import of building materials to Gaza it says may be used to support military infrastructure.

Pressure had built on Israel to end the blockade since its troops shot and killed nine people on board a Turkish-backed vessel of an aid flotilla on May 31, while enforcing its naval blockade on Gaza.