Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday said the security measures taken by his country along the border with Gaza were not aimed at "harming" Palestinians.

"The measures taken by Egypt to secure its eastern borders are in full coordination with the Palestinian Authority and cannot have the aim of harming our Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip," Sisi was quoted as saying in a statement sent by his office.

Two Egyptian policemen were killed in a roadside bombing in the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The ministry said 16 policemen were also wounded when the bomb hit their convoy in the north of the peninsula, where security forces are struggling to quell an Islamist insurgency.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam was in New York on Friday to attend the opening of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015.

The summit is aimed at formally approving an ambitious and costly 15-year blueprint to eradicate extreme poverty, combat climate change and address more than a dozen other major global issues.

Hamas on Thursday accused Egypt of further besieging the Gaza Strip by flooding the border area to the south of the Palestinian enclave, which is already under an Israeli blockade.

Egypt has been carrying out digging work in the area for several weeks that Palestinians believe is intended to flood the last remaining tunnels between Gaza and the Sinai, where jihadist fighters have been battling Egyptian forces.

Ali Salem, a famed Egyptian satirical writer whose works include one of the Arab world's most popular comedic plays, died Tuesday in his home in Cairo of natural causes, Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency said. He was 79.

Salem's writings include 15 books and 25 plays. His most famous work was "School of the Troublemakers," a 1971 comedic play about a class of riotous teenagers reformed by a female teacher.

Two Al-Jazeera journalists walked free after being pardoned Wednesday along with scores of others by Egypt's president, following criticism of his government for jailing opponents.

The release of Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and colleague Baher Mohamed was welcomed by their supporters, with Al-Jazeera saying it was "delighted" and Fahmy's lawyer Amal Clooney calling it "a historic day."

French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday Egypt had agreed to buy two Mistral warships which France built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis.

The deal is the second big military contract this year between France and Egypt, which Hollande said he increasingly views as a strategic partner.

Egypt's military announced Wednesday it was winding down its largest campaign in the Sinai against Islamists, following a 16-day operation in which it said scores of Islamic State group jihadists were killed.

The army said the campaign in the Sinai Peninsula had "achieved its goals" in destroying militant hideouts and equipment, in joint operations by special forces, armoured divisions and the air force.

Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed to host talks between the Fatah and Hamas movements who remain deeply divided over a meeting of the Palestine National Council (PNC), al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday.

PNC, a congress representing those in the Palestinian territories and the diaspora, was to take place on September 14-15. But it was postponed to an undetermined date.

The bodies of eight Mexican tourists killed by mistake in an Egyptian air raid returned home Tuesday and were sent to forensic investigators amid diplomatic discord over the incident.

The tourists were killed along with four Egyptians on September 13 when they came under fire during a lunch break in Egypt's vast Western Desert while on their way to the Bahariya oasis.