Salah El-Bardawil, a spokesman for Hamas’ parliamentary bloc, said in a press statement “there are no contacts at all with Cairo” after Hamas refused to sign an Egyptian proposal for reconciliation with the rival Fatah movement. El-Bardawil added that the Egyptian newspaper report “was inaccurate and untrue.”

Early Saturday, Almesryoon, the newspaper, reported that a Hamas delegation would pay a low-profile visit to Egypt for talks with officials concerning “issues of mutual concern.”

According to the report, the issues include the stalled indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for freeing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of  kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The report said the talks would tackle recent tension between Hamas and Egypt after the movement accused Egyptian forces of using poisonous gas in a tunnel beneath Gaza’s southern border with Egypt where four Palestinians died.

In October last year, Egypt presented a reconciliation proposal to the Palestinian factions, which Fatah accepted a few days later.

The 25-page proposal called for all Palestinian factions signing a reconciliation deal by Oct. 25 and immediately implementing it by deploying a 3,000-strong security force in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and forming a joint body to coordinate between the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

The proposal, formed in coordination with all factions, also called for holding general elections for presidential, legislative and the Palestinian National Council in the Palestinian territories and abroad in June 2010.

Hamas expressed reservations on the Egyptian proposal for restoring political unity to Gaza and the West Bank.

Last week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to accept the reconciliation proposal drafted by Egypt.

“I call on Hamas to think carefully and sign the reconciliation pact in order to get out of this circle of conflict and feud on the articles of Egypt’s initiative,” Abbas said.

“It is unreasonable not to sign  the reconciliation pact and keep this status quo of division because of some concerns on a point here or a point there,” said Abbas. He pledged to personally sponsor the dialogue and meet with all factional leaders “with no exceptions and discuss any issue with them.”