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Swedish foreign minister urges ceasefire, end to Gaza blockade

Other News Materials 8 January 2009 16:43 (UTC +04:00)

It is "extremely urgent" to get a ceasefire and end the violence in Gaza including the Israeli ground and air offensive as well as rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Thursday.

Bildt - just back from a visit to the Middle East as part of a European Union delegation - told reporters he was "at present not interested in laying blame" but wanted to "see an end to the violence."

Another urgent matter was to "end the smuggling of weapons and components used to build rockets" to Gaza from Egypt, Bildt said, saying that this in turn hinged on "lifting the economic isolation of Gaza."

The smuggling was "extremely lucrative," Bildt noted, saying that the EU delegation had been informed there were several hundred tunnels used to run the Israeli blockade, reported dpa.

"It is not possible to stop the smuggling without lifting the isolation of Gaza," the Swedish foreign minister said.

Both Israel and Hamas need to make concessions, he said, and ensure the "free flow of humanitarian and economic traffic."

The rocket attacks fired earlier Thursday from southern Lebanon into northern Israel were "hopefully an isolated incident," Bildt said.

Sweden was, along with other EU members, prepared to contribute expertise to monitor the borders between Gaza and Egypt, Bildt said.

Neighbouring Denmark has together with the Netherlands suggested that EU countries send police officers to monitor the border.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller and his Dutch counterpart, Maxime Verhagen, have presented such a proposal in a letter sent Wednesday to the Czech EU presidency.

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