Cairo - A delegation from the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas arrived in Cairo Tuesday headed by Mussa Abu Marzouq, deputy of the Damascus-based political wing of the group.

Abu Marzouq's delegation joined another Hamas delegation that arrived from Gaza earlier Tuesday. The Hamas representatives will discuss with Egyptian officials a prisoner swap deal with Israel and the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

An Egyptian-brokered ceasefire between Hamas and Israel took effect on June 19 in Gaza.

However, Israel closed the crossing points five times since the ceasefire took effect in response to rocket attacks by some Palestinian factions.

Hamas has previously presented a list of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for release. However Israel refused 75 per cent of them saying they had been engaged in violent attacks against Israel. (dpa)