Israeli Relaxations Of Measures In Gaza Not Enough: Hamas

The Islamic Hamas Movement has said that the recent Israeli relaxations of some of the tightened measures imposed on the Gaza Strip "are not enough".

Hazem Qassem, the movement's spokesman in Gaza, told reporters that the declared Israeli relaxations "are not enough," adding that "there are contacts to lift the Israeli siege that has been imposed on the Gaza Strip for 15 years", reports Xinhua news agency "The contacts that are held with Egypt, Qatar, and the UN aimed at lifting all the Israeli restrictions that were imposed on the crossing points of the Gaza Strip before May 10," he added.

On Friday, the Israeli authorities announced that it will ease some of the tightened restrictions.

A total of 1,000 merchants and 350 businessmen from the Gaza Strip will be allowed to enter Israel starting on Sunday, said Ghassan Alian, chief of the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians.

"Amid the security stability with Gaza, it will also be possible to expand imports from Israel into the Gaza Strip, which will include components of transportation and communications sector," according to the COGAT statement.

The equipment and goods will be allowed into the Gaza Strip in order to develop the humanitarian infrastructure, it added.

Israel captured territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and has controlled them ever since.

Israel bans the entry of Palestinians unless they have special permits issued by the military.