TEHRAN - A number of Iranian lawmakers are due to hold talks with Cairo officials in an effort to pave way for dispatching humanitarian aids to the besieged Palestinian people. "The delegation does not carry any aid for Gazans but we are going to hold talks with Egyptian officials to pave the way for sending aid there," Mahmoud Ahmadi Biqash who will head the delegation to Egypt said. The delegation led by Biqash includes three other lawmakers. He also announced that the Iranian parliamentary delegation is due to meet some Egyptian authorities and Hamas officials during its visit to Egypt and Gaza. "Based on what is declared by Egyptian Interests Section in Tehran, we are to meet Egyptian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour and some authorities of the country, we also meet families of martyrs and the injured Gazans as well as officials of Hamas legitimate government," he told reporters in a press conference. Iran along with some other countries is trying to ease Gaza siege which started in June 2007 when Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip. This was supported by the governments of Egypt and the US. The blockade consists of a land blockade along Gaza's borders with Egypt and Israel and a sea blockade. It immediately followed the 2006-2007 economic sanctions against the Palestinian National Authority following the election of Hamas to the Palestinian government. The blockade has attracted criticism from many Human Rights organisations. September 2009 UN fact-finding mission found that the blockade of Gaza "amounted to collective punishment" was likely a war crime and a crime against humanity and recommended that the matter be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
