Photo: Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (R) gives a map of the region to U.S. ‎members of Neturei Karta, a fringe ultra-Orthodox movement within the anti-Zionist ‎bloc, during their visit to Gaza City July 16, 2009. About 200 international activists, ‎among them the members of Neturei Karta, arrived in Gaza on Wednesday after ‎passing though the Rafah border crossing from Egypt. REUTERS

Representatives of an anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect paid a brief visit to the ‎Gaza Strip on Thursday on a solidarity mission with the area's militantly anti-Israel ‎Hamas leaders.‎

It was the first time envoys from the Neturei Karta have visited the Gaza Strip since ‎Hamas seized control in June 2007.‎

The sect denounces Israel's existence and traditionally embraces its enemies — ‎including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Neturei Karta members ‎famously hugged at a Holocaust denial conference in December 2006.‎

Four sect representatives from the U.S. sat down with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail ‎Haniyeh on Thursday, after crossing into the territory through Egypt the night before ‎with dozens of other pro-Palestinian activists. Israel, which maintains a strict ‎blockade of Gaza, would not let them cross through its passages with the territory.‎

‎"We feel your suffering, we cry your cry," said Rabbi Yisroel Weiss upon arriving ‎Wednesday night.‎
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‎"It is your land, it is occupied, illegitimately and unjustly by people who stole it, ‎kidnapped the name of Judaism and our identity," said Weiss, wearing the black hat, ‎black coat and long side-curls typical of ultra-Orthodox Jews. His delegation left early ‎Thursday.‎

Hamas seeks the destruction of the state of Israel and has killed more than 250 Israelis ‎in suicide bombings. Israel, along with the U.S. and European Union, considers ‎Hamas a terrorist group.‎

During their Thursday meeting, Haniyeh told them he held no grudge against Jews, ‎but against the state of Israel.‎

Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "Guardians of the City," was founded some 70 years ago ‎in Jerusalem by Jews who opposed the drive to establish the state of Israel, believing ‎only the Messiah could do that. Estimates of the group's size range from a few ‎hundred to a few thousand.‎

Representatives of the sect had previously visited Gaza when it was ruled by Fatah.‎

One acted as Yasser Arafat's adviser on Jewish affairs, and a delegation traveled to ‎Paris in 2004 to pray for the Palestinian leader's health as he lay dying in a hospital.‎

Months later, a group participated in a conference in Lebanon with Hamas and ‎Hezbollah militants.‎