The leaders of Hamas gathered in Cairo on Sept. 9 for a high-level meeting. It was their first face-to-face encounter since Ismail Haniyeh's election to head the group's political bureau and the selection of Yahya Sinwar to lead the movement in Gaza. The two men were joined by Saleh al-Arouri, expelled from both Turkey and Qatar and now based in Lebanon; Sinwar's deputy Khalil al-Hayya; and Mousa Abu Marzouk, considered the Hamas leader closest to the Egyptian regime.

The one person who did not receive permission from Egypt to pass through the Rafah border crossing to participate in the meeting was Fathi Hammad, former interior minister in the Hamas government. A security source in the Palestinian Authority told Al-Monitor that the Egyptians suspect Hammad of having cooperated with jihadist forces in the Sinai, making him persona non grata in Cairo.

The Hamas summit in Cairo took place against the backdrop of Hamas' recent rapprochement with Iran. A Hamas delegation, including Arouri, turned up in Tehran on Aug. 2 for President Hassan Rouhani's second-term inauguration and held a series of meetings with top Iranian officials. The movement's representative in Lebanon, Ali Barakeh, went so far as to announce on Aug. 6 that Haniyeh would soon be visiting Tehran, noting, “Iran sees the continuation of resistance in Palestine as a vital issue," and "Iran is the only country that provides Hamas with economic and military support.”

After the summit in Egypt, Haniyeh set off for meetings with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On the other hand, he did not pay a visit to Tehran, as much as he may have wanted to. It is clear to Haniyeh and the rest of the Hamas leadership that Egyptian consent for their leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing excludes “layovers” in Tehran. Cairo has yet to comment publicly on the renewed friendship between Hamas and Tehran, but Haniyeh and Sinwar, and even Hamas “bad boy” Arouri, know that they cannot dance at two weddings.