Palestinian lecturer's body 'to return to Gaza from Malaysia'

Anwar al-Agha said on Tuesday that Egypt agreed to allow the body of Hamas-affiliated Fadi al-Batsh to be returned through its border with Gaza.

Israel's defence minister Avigdor Lieberman had appealed to Egypt to refuse the Palestinian request. The body is expected to arrive in Gaza on Thursday.

Malaysian police released on Monday computer-generated images of two men suspected of killing al-Batsh outside his complex the capital.

They were reportedly seen waiting in the area where Batsh lived before he was shot dead.

The pictures show two light-skinned, bearded men, one of whom was wearing glasses and a white and black helmet.

Police also released images of two motorcycles, a BMW and a Kawasaki, one of which was believed to have been ridden by the suspects.

Two motorcyclists fired ten rounds at al-Batsh during the early hours of Saturday morning as he was on his way to a nearby mosque for dawn prayers. 

The Hamas movement has vowed revenge for al-Batsh's death.

Hamas in an earlier statement said the Palestinian engineer was a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars".

It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made "important contributions" and participated in international forums in the field of energy.

Al-Batsh specialised in electrical and electronic engineering and worked at a Malaysian university. He had lived there with his family for the past eight years and was an imam at a local mosque.

Senior Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh told The Associated Press that based on previous assassinations "Mossad is not away from this disgraceful, terrible crime".

"There will be an unsettled account between us and it," Haniyeh said at the Gaza mourning tent, referring to Mossad. "We cannot give up on the blood of our sons, youths and scholars."