UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed the hope that Israel’s announcement to ease blockade on the Gaza Strip will lead to an improvement in the lives of the 15 lakh Palestinians in the territory. According to a statement, Mr. Ban has asked the UN Special Coordination for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry to immediately engage the Israeli Government to learn more about the decision and the additional measures needed to implement it. The statement adds that the UN continues to seek a fundamental change in policy so that humanitarian assistance, commercial goods and people are able to flow through functioning open crossings and the world body stands ready to scale up its efforts to help Gaza recover and rebuild. The international community welcomed the easing, but urged Israel to do more to reopen Gaza's borders and revive its stagnant economy. International Mideast envoy Tony Blair called it an important step toward easing the lives of Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas, which controls Gaza was not satisfied. Its official Salah Bardawil said Hamas wants a real lifting of the siege, not window-dressing. Israel’s Security Cabinet on Thursday decided to ease the blockade and liberalise the system by which goods enter Gaza and expand the inflow of material for civilian projects under International supervision. The cabinet however has decided to continue existing security procedures to prevent the inflow of weapons and war materiel in to Gaza.