News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann said on Thursday that visits to Hamas-controlled Gaza by foreign missions should be conditioned on their seeing abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and the conditions under which he is being held by his Hamas captors. Professor Friedmann was responding to a Hamas protest over Israel's refusal to allow a European humanitarian mission to enter Gaza to examine the situation there, in the wake of Israel's stopping supplies, following the recent rise in rocket attacks against Israeli targets by Gaza terrorists.

The minister said, "In the future, if the question comes up of letting in a humanitarian mission... it should be made conditional that the visitors meet with Gilad Shalit, check the conditions under which he is being held and explanations be provided why Hamas commits such a serious violation of international law regarding the conditions of his captivity."