A Hamas delegation, which was scheduled to visit Cairo on Sunday, delayed its visit because director of Egyptian intelligence Omar Sulaiman had left the country, according to senior Hamas leader Ayman Taha.

Taha told Ma'an that contacts with the Egyptians were ongoing to set a new date for the visit.

Hamas examination and commentary on the Egyptian conciliation plan was expected to be completed on Saturday, after a high-profile delegation headed by the deputy head of the movement’s politburo, Mousa Abu Marzouq, went to Cairo, Taha said on Saturday.

"Hamas has no reservations [on the conciliation plan], but will highlight some issues that the Egyptians forgot to include in their plan," he told Ma'an. "These are issues which have been agreed on before."

Earlier that day, delegation leader Mousa Abu Marzouq told the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad that the delay in signing the agreement was necessary, since Hamas could not have sat down with President Mahmoud Abbas following his decision to drop the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council.

"Meeting with him would mean not holding him accountable for the mistake," Abu Marzouq reportedly said.

In a different regard, Taha on Sunday denied news reports that claimed Egypt had released most of its Palestinian detainees, keeping only 51 imprisoned.