US senator visits Gaza, avoids Hamas

US Sen. John Kerry traveled to the Gaza Strip on Thursday, in the highest-level visit by a US official since Hamas seized power nearly two years ago.

Kerry did not meet with anyone from Hamas, which the US shuns as a terrorist group, and he used the visit to urge the group to end its violent campaign against Israel.

But the mere presence of the well-known Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee was a possible harbinger of a new US approach in the region.

Since taking office last month, President Barack Obama has said he wants to improve US ties with the Muslim world. Kerry is considered close to Obama, and a separate visit to Gaza Thursday by Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim congressman, was another possible sign of the new American approach.

Kerry in Gaza on Thursday (Photo: AFP)

Accompanied by UN escorts, Kerry said he was in Gaza to view the aftermath of Israel's recent military offensive against Hamas. The operation killed some 1,300 people, including hundreds of civilians, caused widespread destruction and left thousands of people homeless.

"Let me make this clear, there is no change in policy," said Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "I am here to listen with the UN personnel on the ground to hear their assessment and to make personal judgment. The thing we need to do is to improve the situation in the region."

Kerry toured the ruins of an American-style school that was destroyed in Israeli bombing, and visited a neighborhood in northern Gaza where dozens of homes were flattened. He also spoke to local residents, including Shaarhabel Alzeem, a prominent attorney.

"We highly appreciate your visit here and hope you can talk to your colleagues and say that we want peace with Israel. But we also need to live respectable lives," Alzeem told the senator.

"Your political leadership needs to make it clear how it is willing to move to make peace and those decisions have not been made yet," Kerry responded. "Your political leadership needs to understand that any nation that has rockets hitting it for many years threatening its residents is going to respond."

Kerry also visited Sderot earlier Thursday, and emphasized during his visit the American administration's demand that Syria cease its support for terrorist organizations.

Kerry said that it is important that Syria show willingness to honor the electoral process in Lebanon, to stop supporting Hamas and Hizbullah, something which, according to Kerry, would show Syria's willingness to make peace with Israel. According to him, the US is prepared to put Syria to the test.