Organization of Islamic Conference ( OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Sunday arrived to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to inspect the humanitarian situation following January Israel's war.
Ihsanoglu arrived at the territory through the Egyptian borders in Rafah city and he is scheduled to meet leaders of the Islamic Resistance movement (Hamas) and its government in Gaza, Xinhua reported.
"Our visit to Gaza is to express solidarity," Ihsanoglu told reporters after he crossed into Gaza. He also urged Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement to reconcile to the territories the two movements control -- Gaza Strip and West Bank.
In December and January, Israel bounded Gaza Strip from the air for a week before sending ground forces that divided the territories into two parts and demolished or damaged around 15,000 houses and institutions. The unprecedented war killed about 1,400 Palestinians.
Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, welcomed the visit of the OIC chief and called on Amr Moussa, the Arab League Secretary General, to pay a similar visit to Gaza.
At the International donors' conference, which Egypt hosted early March, the OIC pledged 100 million U.S. dollars for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.