The Israeli government made the announcement about three weeks after a deadly Israeli naval commando attacks on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which outraged most parts of the world at large and touched off strong condemnations.

Earlier on Monday, the Quartet, a diplomatic group in search of lasting peace in the Middle East, issued a statement here to welcome the Israeli announcement to ease its blockade on Gaza. " The new policy towards Gaza just announced by the government of Israel is a welcome development," said the statement issued by the Quartet, made up of the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.

"Of course, we have nothing against the 1.5 million Gazans, almost all of them are innocent people like everyone of us and have the right to get humanitarian needs," Barak said.

"But I insist that there was never a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there is no hunger, no humanitarian crisis," the Israeli defense minister said in what is against the UN reports that Gaza has been locked in a humanitarian crisis because of the Israeli blockade.

"There are 1.5 million Gazans," he said, "Only one person in Gaza is deprived from daylight, deprived from the right to meet with his relatives, deprived from the basic rights of human beings -- his name is Gilad Shalit, he is an abducted Israeli soldier and we always remember him."

"We expect that while we are opening or easing the entry to Gaza, his fate will also be taken into account and international pressure will emerge to bring about the end of his stay in Hamas' hands," he said.

Shalit is an Israeli soldier who was captured on June 25, 2006 by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid. He was abducted through the Kerem Shalom crossing (in Israel), and has been held as a prisoner in the Gaza Strip by Hamas since then.

On the coming flotilla, which ship humanitarian goods to Gaza and other parts of the West Bank, Barak said, "We've heard in the media that some organization, probably backed by terror organizations, are once again trying to send vessels into Gaza."

"I should tell everyone that this is a bit irresponsible to do that," he said, "It is well known that we ask all of them, as we asked the previous flotilla to join us and go through Ashdod."

"We see the government of Lebanon responsible for whatever vessels or ships are coming from its ports, and responsible to whatever people with them, boarding on those ships, because there could be a friction that could lead to violence, which is totally unnecessarily and would not be justified once the way to Gaza is open, as it was open even before the last flotilla for everything which is related to human needs," he said.

On his meeting with Ban, he said "I shared with the SG ( secretary-general) our views about his expectation to establish an international inquiry into the recent incident."

Shortly after the Israeli raid on the flotilla, the secretary-general called for a multinational investigation of Israel's raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla that left nine dead but the proposal was swiftly rejected by the Israelis.

"We expressed our view that for the time being as long as those new flotillas are in the preparation, it is probably better to leave it on the shelf for a certain time," Barak said. "We are moving ahead with our independent investigation, which we believe is clearly independent ... credible."