Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal announced his willingness, if he were welcome, to visit Cairo "anytime."
"Hamas is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic movement that isn’t manipulated by anyone," Meshaal said. "We don’t differentiate between Palestinian, Egyptian and Arab blood," he added, calling on Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit to reveal the names of the suspected perpetrators of last week’s shooting of an Egyptian soldier on Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.
"Hamas has no problem with Egypt," Meshaal said. "But the steel border barrier causes us pain, especially since we respect the borders of all Arab countries."
Hamas Foreign Minister Fathi Hammad promised to send Egypt the results of an ongoing investigation into the recent border shooting.
Mahmoud Abbas, president of the US-backed Palestinian Authority, for his part, said: "I regret the killing of an Egyptian soldier at the hands of those who cannot be counted as Palestinians."
The administration of US President Barack Obama, meanwhile, declared that the steel barrier currently being erected along Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip would serve to halt arms smuggling into the Hamas-run coastal enclave.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
