Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said Monday that Egypt designates the Palestinian movement a "terrorist" group.
"The Egyptian regime is not holding contacts with us because they designate us as terrorists," al-Zahar said during a meeting with Palestinian journalists.
The Egyptian government has not announced designating Hamas a "terrorist group".
Since the July 3 ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi, a leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, relations between Hamas – an ideological offshoot of the Brotherhood – and Egypt's new military-backed rulers have deteriorated.
Egyptian media accuses Hamas of "interfering in Egypt's internal affairs" and providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood – claims dismissed by both the Brotherhood and Hamas.
Egyptian officials say that Palestinian fighters sneak into the Sinai Peninsula via underground tunnels to provide military support for Brotherhood supporters.
"We repeatedly urged Egyptians to name those who had carried out attacks against the Egyptian army in Sinai, but we got nothing," al-Zahar said.
"Hamas does not interfere in the affairs of any Arab country," al-Zahar said. "We raise our weapons at only the Israeli occupation".
The senior Hamas leader described the media campaign against the Palestinian resistance group as "false and misleading".
"This campaign is not consistent with Egypt's history or the relationship between the Egyptian and Palestinian peoples," he said.
By Moustafa Haboosh
