Hamas pays tribute to Morsi

GAZA CITY: Hamas on Monday paid tribute to former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who had been a close ally of the Palestinian Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip.

The tribute came after Morsi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader, died after falling ill during a court hearing in Cairo, Egyptian officials announced.

Hamas, an offshoot of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood movement which is outlawed in Egypt, issued a statement hailing his influence.

It praised Morsi's "long struggle spent in the service of Egypt and its people, and primarily the Palestinian cause".

After Morsi's ouster in 2013, Hamas had tense relations with his successor, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with Cairo accusing the group of supporting Islamist militants in Egypt's restive Sinai region bordering Gaza.

Ties between Hamas and Cairo have since improved.