GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A delegation of Hamas officials headed by party chief Khalid Mashaal arrived in Cairo Thursday in a visit that had not been officially announced, Egyptian media reported.

Mashaal, who heads Hamas' politburo in Damascus, will meet Friday with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi, director of the Palestine Studies center in Cairo Ibrahim al-Darawi told Egyptian reporters.

The Hamas chief will discuss internal and external developments with al-Arabi, al-Darawi said.

Mashaal and al-Arabi met on Dec. 23 during his last visit to Cairo for reconciliation talks with Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas.

Friday's meeting follows growing speculation about Hamas' future in Damascus amid Syrian President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown on protesters against his regime.

Mashaal has denied Hamas has any plans to move its politburo, although many Hamas officials have left the country.

Mashaal recently led a Hamas delegation on an official visit to Sudan, and the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Saturday that Hamas leaders held a summit in Khartoum to discuss creating a separate branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine.

In October, a Muslim Brotherhood delegation from Cairo visited the Gaza Strip for the first time. The movement had been curbed by ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak but it has been empowered by a strong showing in elections since Mubarak's overthrow.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met Muslim Brotherhood chairman Muhammad Badie on Dec. 26 during his visit to Cairo.