Dozens of Palestinian children demonstrated at Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Thursday, urging President Barack Obama to press Israel to lift a two-year-old blockade on the enclave.

Hamas authorities allowed the children to reach the Egyptian gate of the terminal shortly before Obama started delivering a speech to the Muslim world from Cairo.

The kids held banners wondering if Obama's speech was going to be "a light of hope for Gaza children." Other banners read: "Gaza children appeal for help."

"The demonstration aims at delivering a message to the new international regime that the children of Palestine are still under Israeli siege and aggression," said Ezz el-Deen al-Massri, one of the organizers.

Sahar Abu Foul, a nine-year-old girl who attended the rally, said that the children in Gaza want Obama's help "to secure a lifelike all other children."

Israel imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after Hamas routed security forces of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the territory.

Egypt also maintained the closure of its borders with Gaza since a US-brokered international protocol says Rafah crossing point can not open regularly without the presence of pro-Abbas forces and international monitors.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)