BRUSSELS (EJP)---The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana has called "urgently" for the blockade on the Gaza Strip to be eased in order to allow humanitarian aid to reach the Palestinian people.

In a phone conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, Solana said that the EU was deeply concerned at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The EU top diplomat also said that Hamas had “to stop the rocket attacks across the border which endanger the lives of innocent civilians in Israel.”

Solana added that the EU would continue to follow the situation in Gaza and on the Gaza border very closely and that he would keep in contact with the Palestinian President as well as other leaders in the region, including the Arabe League Secretary-General, Amr Moussa.

The European Union urged the parties to the Middle East peace talks "to do their utmost to meet the commitments they made at the Annapolis Conference" and "to advance on the path to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that was set out in Annapolis."