Egyptian authorities will prevent a number of Hamas leaders from traveling through the country en route to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj.

Hamas officials told Ma'an that among the leaders prohibited from accessing Egypt are lawmaker Salah Al-Bardawil and spokesmen Sami Abu Zuhri and Fawzi Barhoum.

Abu Zuhri confirmed the ban, saying he was informed by Hamas' leadership that "an Egyptian official made contact and notified us of Egypt's refusal to allow a number of Hamas leaders to travel for Hajj."

He added: "We're talking about a religious rite. This really shouldn't be used to play politics."

The move is likely to complicate already tense relations between Cairo and the Islamic movement.

In September, high-ranking Hamas official Ismail Radwan said party leader-in-exile Khaled Mash'al met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman over progress made on unity talks with Fatah.

The discussion was also key to improving ties with Egypt, which has blamed Hamas for the death of a border guard in 2009 and is in general allied with the Fatah-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

Hamas accuses Egypt of complicity in Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave, ongoing for four years, as it has with limited exceptions kept the Rafah crossing closed to most goods and strictly limited movement.

Egypt insists that its closure policy is for security reasons, and has implicated Hamas in an incident over the summer in which militants in the Sinai Peninsula fired projectiles into southern Israel and Jordan.