**Baroness Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, is due to arrive shortly in the Gaza strip.**Ms Ashton will be one of the most senior Western political figures to visit Gaza since Hamas took power.
Her arrival in the Palestinian territory comes amidst a new push by the EU to revive stalled Middle East peace talks.
She will later head to Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the EU, US, UN and Russia.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has arrived in the Russian capital for the talks.
In the Middle East, Baroness Ashton is also scheduled to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli President Shimon Peres.
But it is her visit to Gaza which is arousing the most interest, says Jon Donnison, the BBC’s Gaza correspondent.
Regional tour
Only two European foreign ministers have come to Gaza in the past year, our correspondent notes.
Foreign officials are often refused entry by Israel, or their governments choose not to come because they do not recognise Hamas.
The visit has been welcomed by the United Nations, which says Israel’s blockade has left hundreds of thousands in Gaza living in poverty.
Baroness Ashton is on a regional tour that began in Cairo and also includes Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
On Wednesday she visited Jerusalem where she met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and held a joint press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman.
During the conference, she said that Israel must return to the negotiating table immediately.