GAZA: A top US senator and two other lawmakers made a rare visit to the Gaza Strip yesterday but insisted a boycott of its Hamas Islamist rulers remained intact.

It was the highest-profile visit by US legislators to the Gaza Strip since before the outbreak of a Palestinian uprising against Israel in 2000, US officials said.

The visit follows a 22-day offensive which Israel launched with the declared aim of halting cross-border rocket fire by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The bombardment killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.