Egypt's prosecutor general Saturday referred to trial 200 alleged members of the al-Qaida-inspired Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, accusing them of "terrorism" for launching deadly attacks against security forces, judicial sources said.

It would be the first mass trial of jihadists in Egypt since the military deposed Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July last year.

Egypt unveiled Thursday the 3,000 year-old tombs of two senior pharaonic military men in the famed Saqqara necropolis, one of them decorated with well-preserved reliefs depicting the afterlife.

Saqqara, roughly 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Cairo, was the burial ground for the neighbouring city of Memphis.

Hamas must recognize the existence of Israel if the Palestinians are to move forward with their hopes of establishing their own state, former Egyptian foreign minister Amr Moussa said Wednesday.

"It is normal for the Palestinians to reconcile," Moussa said of a recent unity deal struck between the Hamas militants who run the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Egyptians on Tuesday they will have to be patient and work hard to salvage their economy after three years of unrest.

The retired field marshal, who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, said foreign debt and subsidies costs ate away much of the budget, but ruled out drastic subsidy cuts.

Egypt's former army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi suggested on Tuesday he would not receive an Israeli prime minister if the Jewish state does not make concessions to Palestinians in peace talks.

The retired field marshal, who toppled elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July, is expected to sweep the May 26-27 election. His only rival is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabbahi.

Egypt's prestigious Islamic institute Al-Azhar urged the Nigerian Muslim group Boko Haram group Tuesday to free more than 200 schoolgirls it kidnapped and has threatened to sell into slavery.

Al-Azhar, which runs the main Sunni Islamic university in the region, said harming the girls "completely contradicts the teachings of Islam and its tolerant principles."

An Egyptian court Tuesday banned senior members of the now-dissolved National Democratic Party of ousted President Hosni Mubarak from running in upcoming parliamentary elections, a judicial source said.

A court disbanded the NDP shortly after Mubarak was forced out in 2011 but former members were expected to try a political comeback in elections to be held before year end.

Egypt's ex-army chief and leading presidential candidate Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Monday the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed leader Mohamed Morsi was "finished" in Egypt and would not return if he was elected.

Following the Sisi-led army ouster of Morsi in July, the Brotherhood has been banned, its leaders arrested and more than 1,400 people, mostly Islamist backers of Morsi, killed in protest clashes.

An Egyptian militant group has claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings that killed three people and wounded eight on Friday in the southern Sinai Peninsula.

In a statement posted Sunday on militant websites, al-Qaida inspired group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis warned the Egyptian army "we will not rest until we achieve retribution for the blood and honor of the Muslims."

An Australian journalist with satellite news channel Al-Jazeera on trial in Egypt on Saturday described his ordeal as a "massive injustice", after spending more than four months in jail.

The award-winning Peter Greste is on trial with 19 co-defendants, including five Al-Jazeera journalists, for allegedly defaming the country and ties to the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.