Obama to hold key talks with Netanyahu in Washington US President Barack Obama is due meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netan

US President Barack Obama is due meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. They are expected to discuss a wide range of issues, including Iran's nuclear programme and efforts to start Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The meeting comes a day after Israel said it would allow more consumer goods to enter the Gaza Strip. But it said items including weapons and materials that could have a military use would be barred or limited.

Hamas, which has been controlling Gaza since 2007, dismissed the concessions as of no use and said the blockade should be fully lifted. Israel says its blockade of the Palestinian territory is needed to prevent the supply of weapons to Hamas.

Israel came under international pressure to ease its four-year blockade of Gaza after nine Turkish activists were killed in a 31 May Israeli raid on a flotilla that was trying to carry aid to the Palestinian territory.

The international Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, told the BBC he believed the international outcry which followed that raid persuaded it to accelerate the easing of the Gaza blockade.

"It is true to say that the Israeli government, I think, were moving towards a different policy anyway, but of course what happened has hugely accelerated the idea," he said.