Israel imposed in January a blockade on the Gaza Strip, run by the Islamist group Hamas, cutting supplies to the 1.5 million people living there.
Rice and Olmert will meet next week in Japan only a few days prior to Rice's working visit to Israel, the Haaretz daily reported. Experts believe the urgency of the meeting may indicate that the Bush administration is becoming increasingly unhappy with Israeli policies in Gaza.
On Thursday, European lawmakers condemned Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip and urged Tel Aviv not to inflict "collective punishment" on Gaza's population. They adopted a resolution saying Israeli isolation of the territory had failed and its actions were endangering the civilian population.
However, Israel says the blockade, missile strikes and raids against militants in Gaza are carried out in an effort to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel's southern cities and towns.
Tel Aviv insists that any concessions to Islamists weaken moderate forces in the Palestinian leadership that support the idea of peaceful coexistence with Israel.
"All indirect support for Hamas, even via discussions about opening the [border] crossings or about the humanitarian situation, only weakens those parties that are interested in reaching a [diplomatic] agreement," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday at a meeting with her Romanian counterpart Adrian Cioroianu.
"The Palestinian people have no future with Hamas, and Israel will continue to fight the terror that Hamas perpetrates," she added.
Israeli air strikes and ground incursions into the Gaza Strip have killed at least 300 Palestinians in the past year, including dozens of civilians, while Hamas militants have fired more than 4,200 rockets and mortar rounds at southern Israel since June last year.
