EU High Representative Catherine Ashton intends to travel to Gaza in March but has not confirmed whether she will meet Hamas leaders during the trip or whether she will enter the Palestinian territory via Israel or Egypt, her spokesman said, on 8 March.

“Ms Ashton has the intention to visit Gaza, to see in particular what is happening to the money that the EU is giving to Gaza,” spokesman Lutz Güllner said, elaborating on the EU foreign affairs chief’s Middle Eastern itinerary, which so far includes Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

If she cannot enter Gaza through Israel, the alternative will be to cross from Egypt, but her spokesman would not confirm the likelihood of either option. “There are two possibilities for going there and we are looking at both possibilities,” he stated.

In Gaza, Ashton intends to visit humanitarian programmes funded by the EU, but has not confirmed, or ruled out, her meeting with the Hamas leadership. “She wants to see the projects in particular. There is no further element of the programme yet defined,” her spokesman elaborated.

While in the Middle East, Ashton will attend a meeting of the quartet (the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia), which is working to find a solution for peace in the region. Current talks stalled 15 months ago. The Gaza Strip is currently under blockade from Israel, which says the measures prevent Palestinian militant activity on its soil, but the impact on the local population has been criticised widely in the international community, including by Ashton. In Gaza, the European Union supports, among others, projects working on water and sanitation, health and psychosocial support.