A leader of the military wing of the Islamist group Hamas, Ezz El-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, has been killed in an air strike in Egypt's border Sinai Peninsula, Sky News Arabia reported.

The assault is believed to be part of an extended campaign by the Egyptian army in the volatile Sinai region to stamp out a raging Islamist insurgency which has killed hundreds over the past 19 months.

Earlier in February, an Egyptian court banned the Al-Qassam Brigades and listed it a terrorist organisation, against the backdrop of a sustained crackdown by authorities on the Muslim Brotherhood, the party of deposed president Mohamed Morsi, of which Hamas is an offshoot.

The Brotherhood was declared a terrorist group late in 2013, with thousands of its members and much of its leadership thrown behind bars.

Egyptian officials say Hamas has helped smuggle weapons from Gaza into Sinai and provided assistance to militants based there, charges the Palestinian group has repeatedly denied .

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