A spokesman for the Palestinian Hamas movement on Tuesday denied Israeli reports of Egyptian restrictions on Hamas officials who travel through Egypt, calling them the Israeli maneuvers to poison the Egyptian-Palestinian ties.

"Last week we were in Egypt, met with a number of officials in very good atmosphere and we agreed on more coordination to ease the movement of our officials," said Salah al-Bardaweel, who is also a lawmaker.

Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday an Egyptian "crackdown on Hamas" as part of efforts to stop arms smuggling from Sinai to Gaza.

"The Israeli media tried to poison the ties between Egypt and the Palestinians," al-Bardaweel added.

However, he admitted that Mohammed Awad, secretary-general of the Palestinian cabinet, was delayed on the border while passing through Rafah crossing on Gaza-Egypt border, which is the only way for Gaza residents to travel outside the Palestinian territories.

Source: Xinhua