An Islamic leader on Wednesday described Israel's decision to loosen its blockade of the Hamas- ruled Gaza Strip as "a big lie and a media propaganda." "What is needed is a full lifting of the siege," Khaled al-Batsh, a senior leader in the Islamic Jihad movement, told a press conference in Gaza.

Al-Batsh said that the new Israeli plan to relax the blockade is "a propaganda that only serves the occupying state."

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to ease a three-year-old blockade on the seaside territory.

Under the plan, Israel would expand the inflow of consuming products into the blockaded Strip.

Observers believed that the decision came after mounting international criticism of the blockade, mainly after the Israeli attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla which claimed the lives of nine activists onboard on May 30.

Batsh also urged for opening all the crossings with Israel and Egypt to ensure a steady circulation of goods and people in and out of the enclave.

Israel has been imposing a tight blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip since Gaza militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid in June 2006.

Israel and Egypt sealed off their borders with Gaza in June 2007 when Islamic Hamas movement took over Gaza from security forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.