A senior US congressman on Sunday urged President Barack Obama to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
During a talk with Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip, Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) insisted that Israel is squeezing the life out of Gaza with the embargo, and echoed claims that the Israeli army visited indescriminate destruction on the area during last year's Gaza war.
Baird said the US should send a fleet of aid ships into Gaza and break the Israeli blockade.
The congressman's tirade ignored the fact that Egypt, too, is blockading Gaza, and that Israel allows huge quantities of humanitarian supplies and food to enter the coastal territory every day. The only items that are not allowed in are building supplies, which Israel fears would be diverted for military use.