World Bulletin / News Desk

A Hamas delegation returned to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Wednesday via the Rafah border crossing following talks in Egypt and Qatar. 

In Cairo, the delegation held talks with Egyptian officials aimed at improving the group’s relations with Egypt, which nosedived following a 2013 military coup against Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader. 

The visit to Cairo came after Egyptian authorities accused the Palestinian group of involvement in last year’s assassination of Egyptian Prosecutor-General Hesham Barakat. 

Ahead of the visit, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahhar said the group planned to respond "positively" to Egyptian demands. He declined, however, to elaborate further. 

The Egyptian media accuses Hamas, an ideological offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, of involvement in a spate of recent militant attacks in Sinai -- claims the Palestinian group strenuously denies. 

The Hamas delegation had also visited Qatari capital Doha for talks with the group’s political chief, Khaled Meshaal.