Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniya returned to Gaza Friday after five months abroad, an AFP reporter said, praising improving ties with neighbours Egypt.
Haniya, Gaza head of the Islamist movement, left in September to perform the Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, returning via Gulf countries and Egypt, where he sought to mend frayed relations.
"The movement's delegation completed a successful visit to Egypt," a Hamas statement read, saying they had a series of "fruitful" meetings with Egyptian officials, including head of general intelligence Khaled Fawzy.
Upon his return home in the Shaati refugee camp west of Gaza city, Haniya told journalists the relationship with Egypt was improving.
"(Hamas) will continue to develop this relationship and strengthen it," he said.
It was Haniya's first trip outside Gaza since the isolation and eventual overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's Islamist president and Hamas ally, in 2013.
Relations between Egypt and Hamas soured following Morsi's overthrow and the subsequent election of President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi.
Egypt's army largely closed the border with Gaza after El-Sisi's rise to power citing security concerns.
However, Egypt has periodically opened the crossing on a number of occasions for humanitarian reasons.
The army also destroyed dozens of illegal trade tunnels between north Sinai and Gaza, saying the tunnels were used by militants to carry out attacks on Egyptian security forces.
However, relations between the Islamist Palestinian faction and El-Sisi's government have improved in the past year and the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is due to open Saturday for a few days.
Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since 2007 after a near civil war with rival Palestinian faction Fatah.
More than 1.5 million Palestinians in the strip have lived under an Israeli siege since 2006.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online
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