BRUSSELS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The European Union said it hoped more humanitarian aid could get through to Gaza Strip on Thursday after Israel assured the bloc it would fully cooperate on allowing urgent supplies through. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said after talks with EU officials in Brussels that crossings into Gaza were open for such humanitarian purposes and Israel was ready to cooperate "as far as needed" to ensure vital aid got through. "I am happy to hear what the minister said," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said after talks late on Wednesday. "I hope very much that will be reality tomorrow and that the lorries that are necessary to go in ... can enter into Gaza." Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, told the same news briefing the EU had won permission for a mission to enter the Gaza Strip with aid, but added that it was not clear yet how much assistance could be brought in. "We are working with the international community and international organisations in order to help in answering the needs in the Gaza Strip," Livni told the news conference. "We are willing to cooperate on this as far as needed." Earlier a statement released by the office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert following a phone call with U.S. President Barack Obama pledged Israel's help for the emergency needs of Gazans. Israel and militant Islamic group Hamas declared separate ceasefires on Sunday, raising prospects for more aid to be brought into the rubble-strewn enclave where thousands are homeless after a devastating 22-day Israeli offensive in response to Hamas rocket attacks. Livni said she had won an "understanding" during her two hours of talks with EU counterparts of the need to prevent smuggling of arms into Gaza from Egypt. However no details emerged during the news conference of how the EU and other international players could help counter such activities, given Egypt's reluctance to allow a foreign presence on its soil to carry out such tasks. Earlier, EU ministers stressed that a reopening of border crossings was a key precondition to halting the flow of smuggled goods, including arms, into Gaza via a network of tunnels. "There is no solution to the Gaza crisis without opening up the borders," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. "Human beings being what they are, they will dig tunnels out of desperation." (Reporting by Mark John; Editing by Matthew Jones)
Pro-Palestinians demonstrate outside a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels January 21, 2009. The Czech EU presidency said the ministers from the 27 EU states would meet Israeli Foreign Minister ...
Palestinian territories
