Hamas leader Ismail Haniyah congratulated Egypt on Monday after the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi's campaign announced that he had won the election.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip celebrated Morsi's self-declared victory on Monday, with fireworks and parades of cars and motorcycles.

Haniyah said that he prayed for Egypt's stability and security, and he called on Egypt to rein in Israeli aggression.

He also refuted Israeli accusations that Hamas had fired rockets from Egypt's Sinai peninsula into Israel, saying that these charges allow Israel to attack Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as in the recent case of two Palestinians killed by an Israeli air raid on Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

On a separate note, Hamas held a moment of silence to mark the death of Saudi crown prince Nayef Bin Abdel Aziz.

The official results of the Egyptian presidential elections will be announced by the Supreme Presidential Electoral Commission (SPEC) on Thursday. On Monday, both campaigns claimed victory according to their unofficial tallies of the votes.