EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma'an) -- Several Fatah leaders who fled Gaza amid fighting with Hamas in 2007 returned to the enclave on Thursday.

Prominent security official Nasser al-Saqq, who headed the Palestinian Authority's preventive security service in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, returned with his wife and five children through the Rafah crossing on Egypt's border, a Ma'an reporter said.

Hassan Abu Jandal, a leader in Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades in Khan Younis, also returned with his family, as did Fatah leaders Fayiz al-Qassas and Khalid al-Shaer.

"We have the right to return to our homeland in light of the real and serious reconciliation agreement," al-Qassas told Ma'an.

Hundreds of Fatah members fled Gaza in 2007 during a brief war with Hamas, which took control of the coastal strip.