Riad Al-Malki said Israel has “no excuse to maintain the siege over Gaza.” He said the “international community right now is determined to pursue this process” and should “try really to convince the Israelis, if not to pressure the Israelis, to lift the siege completely.”

Al-Malki spoke to reporters during a visit Wednesday to Helsinki, as Israeli Cabinet ministers were meeting to ease restrictions in the three-year Gaza blockade.

In Brussels, meanwhile, a Turkish pro-Palestinian group said on Wednesday it will send another aid flotilla to Gaza next month, again trying to break an Israeli blockade after its last convoy was the target of a deadly Israeli raid in May.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH) told members of the European Parliament it had assembled six ships for the next flotilla and put out an appeal for others to join.

Its last flotilla was intercepted in international waters on May 31. Israeli commandos boarded one of the ships of the flotilla and shot dead nine Turkish men in their bid to enforce the blockade.

The next flotilla is due to sail in the second half of July, IHH said. The group invited the international media to inspect all goods on board before the convoy sails to “demonstrate their commitment to total transparency.”

Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament who organized IHH’s press conference at the parliament in Strasbourg, said the European Union had an obligation to ensure respect for humanitarian law and access for the next flotilla.

“If this terrible tragedy tips the balance so that the international community finally insists on full and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, then some good can still come out of it,” he said, referring to the deaths in the last convoy.

Israel has said it is considering softening its blockade in the wake of international condemnation of the flotilla assault. The EU said on Monday it hoped the easing would begin “in the next days.”

But Israel’s security cabinet that met on Wednesday to consider easing of the blockade adjourned without taking any decisions.

The Cabinet will reconvene on Thursday to continue discussions on expanding a list of about 100 goods Israel permits through overland crossings into the Gaza Strip, a senior government official said.

Israel’s internal security chief, Yuval Diskin, voiced opposition in a briefing to a parliamentary committee on Tuesday to any lifting of Israel’s naval blockade of the territory, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.

Under a plan drawn up in coordination with Middle East envoy Tony Blair, Israel could move from a policy of banning the entry of many commercial goods into Gaza, except a few designated items, to accepting all products and prohibiting only those proscribed on a list, diplomats said.

Blair represents the Quartet of international powers — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia — seeking Middle East peace. He held talks last week with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The former British leader said on Monday Israel had agreed in principle to easing the blockade “in days.”

Israeli Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog, who has called for the lifting of the blockade, said on Army Radio on Wednesday the measure was “outdated and no longer applicable in the current international and diplomatic climate.”