France says Israel's easing of Gaza blockade in "good direction"

Israel's easing of a long-time blockade on Gaza was "going in good direction," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Monday.

"These measures have the effect to significantly ameliorate the living conditions of the civil population in Gaza," Valero told a regular news briefing.

"We will follow their implementation of the work, in cooperation with the Palestinian authority and our partners of the European Union and the Quartet," he said.

France hopes to see further measures to strengthen "the link between the West Bank and Gaza" and the power of Palestinian authority in the West Bank, the spokesman said.

Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip after Gaza militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

The Israeli government announced Sunday to ease the blockade by extending the list of items allowed into the territory, the first mitigation of embargo amid international appeal to end the Gaza siege after Israeli navy stormed a Gaza-bound humanitarian ship and killed Turkish activists in late May.

Source: Xinhua