US Senator John Kerry was meeting Israeli and Palestinian officials on Friday after a trip to Gaza Strip, where he was given a letter to President Barack Obama from Hamas. The chairman of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee was to hold talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres and then meet the Palestinians before flying to Syria on Saturday.
According to AFP, the Israeli president's office said Peres and Kerry would discuss "the regional reality in the wake of the war in Gaza" among other topics.
During his talks with relief officials at the main UN compound in Gaza City, Kerry was handed a letter from Hamas, addressed to Obama. "A letter addressed to Obama was left at the gate of our offices in Gaza; it is believed to be from Hamas," said Christopher Gunness of UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees.
Asked about the contents of the letter, Gunness said: "We are very polite at UNRWA, we don't open other people's mail."
Kerry did not meet any Hamas representative and stressed that his trip to the coastal territory didn't indicate a shift of policy towards Hamas.
