Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

 GAZA, -- Ayman Taha, a Hamas leader, asked German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, who visited Gaza Strip for a few hours on Monday, to turn his words on lifting the Gaza siege into practical deeds.

He urged Germany to work "more seriously" alongside all member countries of the European Union to completely end the blockade on Gaza.

The Hamas leader told the German news agency that the European delegations and figures' visits to the Strip reflected a positive international sympathy with the besieged Strip.

Asked on Westerwelle's call on Hamas to release the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, Taha said that his movement welcomes any German initiative in this respect, affirming that releasing Shalit was linked to meeting his captors' demands on the release of Palestinian prisoners.

Westerwelle told a brief press conference after inspecting a water treatment project financed by his country in Gaza city that his visit was of "humanitarian nature", adding, "We will not forget Gaza".

The minister, who also met with UNRWA officials and a number of businessmen, said that Berlin was ready to support any effort for concluding a prisoners' exchange deal.