Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' politburo, will arrive in Cairo late Tuesday, politburo vice-president Mousa Abu Marzouk has announced.

The visit, according to Abu Marzouk, will last several days, during which Meshaal will meet with Egyptian officials to discuss recent developments in the Palestine file, including the issue of reconciliation between Hamas and its long-time political rival Fatah, which is headed up by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas.

In a statement issued earlier on Tuesday, Abu Marzouk said: "Meshaal and the Hamas delegation will try to arrange tonight with Egyptian officials for a possible meeting tomorrow between Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Meshaal himself to look into means of achieving Palestinian reconciliation."

Abu Marzouk added that Egypt was exerting "additional efforts" to end the longstanding division, pointing to Palestinian consensus on the need for national unity between the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank. He went on to voice hope that the Hamas-Fatah rift would be permanently mended so that the Palestinian people might be better positioned to meet the many challenges facing them.