Sinai, Rafah crossing top points in Egypt-Hamas talks

Palestine's Islamic resistance movement Hamas is seeking to patch up relations with Egypt following tensions that soared with the 2013 overthrow of Islamist Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.

On Saturday, a delegation of Hamas leaders from the Gaza Strip entered neighbouring Egypt through the southern Gaza Rafah crossing to meet with Egypt's intelligence chief Khaled Fawzy.

Gaza security sources told AFP that the delegation included Mahmoud Zahar, Khalil al-Haya, Imad al-Alami and Nizar Awadallah.

The meeting was set to be held three weeks ago, but it was postponed twice, a leading Hamas figure told The New Arab.

The second delay was due to the Egyptian interior ministry's announcement on Sunday that the Palestinian movement was involved in in last year's assassination of the country's top prosecutor Hisham Barakat, the same source said.

"Egypt's intelligence officials were satisfied with Hamas' reaction to the interior ministry's announcement, as they showed restraint and avoided counter-media responses," the source said.

"Both the general and military intelligence services in Egypt are well aware of Hamas' pivotal role in the region," he added, "while the interior ministry's state security service insist on linking the movement to the [outlawed] Muslim Brotherhood group."

In addition, the source said that the delegation came to find an urgent solution for several issues in Gaza, mainly the opening of the Rafah border crossing, at least temporarily to allow students and patients to travel.

The Rafah border crossing, which is the main entry and exit point to Gaza, has been mostly closed since October 2014 when a militant attack in North Sinai left over 30 Egyptian security personnel dead.

The Rafah border crossing, which is the main entry and exit point to Gaza, has been mostly closed since October 2014 when a militant attack in North Sinai left over 30 Egyptian security personnel dead.

As for the security situation in Sinai, the source said, Hamas has shown readiness to coordinate with the Egyptian authorities to secure the joint borders.

"Hamas had already shut down the authority responsible for managing tunnels in order to reassure Egypt," he added.

Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who deposed Morsi, won presidential elections in 2014 on a pledge to wipe out Islamist militants.

Since taking office, the Sisi government has accused Hamas of aiding militant groups in the Sinai Peninsula who have repeatedly attacked Egyptian security forces.

Egypt has largely kept its border with Gaza closed since 2013 and has destroyed hundreds of Palestinian tunnels under the frontier used to smuggle commercial goods, cash, people and, allegedly, weapons.