The Islamic Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip on Monday denied any ties with a cell of the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah that Egypt discovered on its territory bordering the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas has no relations to the arms issues that were raised between Hezbollah and Egypt," said Mohammed Nazzal, Hamas' politburo deputy chief.

"I don't understand why the Islamic resistance movement (Hamas) is being pressured on this issue" by media reports, he added.

Hezbollah admitted it had sent one member to Egypt while reports said the cell was planning to send weapons to Hamas through the Egyptian border with Gaza in northern Sinai.

"Bringing in weapons to Gaza is not a crime at all. This honors anyone who takes on this mission because the (Israeli) occupation and the aggression against the Palestinian people have not stopped," Nazzal added.

Nazzal also praised Hezbollah for "the attempts to send weapons to the Gaza Strip," adding that his movement "supports Hezbollah in the harsh campaign it faces for trying to deliver the arms."

He denied any tension between Hamas and Egypt over this issue.

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after it routed security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since then, Egypt and Israel maintained the closure of their border with the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.