Scores of Palestinian fighters who had been stranded in Egypt since Hamas seized Gaza Strip in June returned to the territory on Sunday, witnesses said, signalling possible new rapprochement between Cairo and the Islamist movement.
In what Hamas sources described as a deal between Hamas and Egypt, some 85 Hamas fighters crossed into Gaza overnight through Rafah, a terminal on the Egyptian border which had been closed for three months.
The 85, whom witnesses and Hamas sources told Reuters included senior Hamas figures, had refused to avail themselves of an alternative return route to Gaza Strip.
Hamas sources said that the Popular Resistance Committees, a Gaza-based armed group, took part in talks with Egypt on temporarily reopening Rafah.
