23 January 2017•Update: 23 January 2017
By Mahmoud al-Husseini and Ola Atallah
CAIRO
Ismail Haniyeh, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, arrived in Cairo on Sunday evening with an accompanying delegation for talks with Egyptian officials, Egyptian sources said.
According to a security source at Cairo International Airport, Haniyeh and his delegation will remain in Cairo for several days, during which they will discuss recent developments in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip with Egyptian officials.
Haniyeh and his delegation were received at the airport late Sunday by members of an Egyptian "sovereign authority", the source said, speaking anonymously due to restrictions on talking to media.
"Haniyeh, accompanied by several Hamas leaders, arrived in Egypt’s capital Sunday evening from Qatari capital Doha," a source close to Hamas confirmed to Anadolu Agency.
"Haniyeh and his delegation will now meet with Egyptian officials to discuss the political and security files and Hamas-Egypt relations," the source said, speaking anonymously as he too was not allowed to talks to media
The same source added that Haniyeh was likely to return directly to Gaza following his visit to Cairo.
Hamas, for its part, has yet to issue an official statement regarding the visit.
Earlier this month, Hamas politburo deputy head Moussa Abu Marzouk likewise visited Cairo, where he met with Egyptian officials.
At the time, group spokesman Hazem Kassem said Abu Marzouk had stressed that Hamas was "keen to develop" its relations with Egypt.
Relations between Egypt and the Palestinian resistance group have remained tense since mid-2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president -- was ousted and imprisoned in a bloody military coup.
Last March, a major Hamas delegation visited Egypt in hopes of improving relations.
Since the 2013 military coup, Egypt has kept its border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip tightly sealed for the most part.
