Hamas welcomes the UN Secretary General, Antonio Gouterres's visit to the Gaza Strip, deeming the visit of the high-profile international figure an indication to the special status of the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and to the deteriorating living conditions inside the strip given the relentless long Israeli blockade imposed on it.

It is highly regrettable this siege persists before the eyes of  the international community and through the international Quartet. This matter necessitates that the Secretary General meet with families of the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli prisons, patients deprived of travelling to receive medical treatment, owners of destroyed houses and victims of the Israeli assaults and siege. As Hamas follows with interest this visit, it requests the Secretary-General to:

1. Make all possible efforts to lift the Gaza siege and end the suffering of two million Palestinians living in the world's largest open-air  prison.

2. Approve and fund the relief and development programs to save the Gaza Strip from the deteriorating humanitarian crisis.

3. Pressure the Israeli occupation to end their violations against the Palestinian people, the  Islamic and Christian holy sites and, and to work immediately to end the Israeli occupation’s  violations against the Palestinian detainees in the Israeli prisons.

Fawzi Barhoum

Spokesperson of The Islamic Movement of Hamas