Yitzhak Molho was to meet Egyptian officials "to discuss the Shalit issue, the recent spy case and other issues such as the peace process and Egyptian gas exports to Israel," an airport official told AFP.

Gaza-based Palestinian militants captured Shalit in a deadly cross-border raid on June 25, 2006. He has remained in captivity in the territory ever since, despite efforts to negotiate a prisoner exchange.

Molho will also discuss the case of US-Israeli citizen, Ilan Grapel, who was arrested in Egypt on espionage charges.

He has reportedly been accused of being an agent of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and of sowing sectarian strife and chaos in Egypt after a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down on February 11.

Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "categorically denied" Grapel was a spy, calling the issue "a mistake".

Israel has expressed concern at the development of Egyptian policy since Mubarak's fall.

Since the uprising, Cairo -- which signed a 1979 peace treaty with Israel -- has distanced itself from the Jewish state.

It took steps to reopen the Rafah border with Gaza, a move criticised by Israel which has imposed a blockade on the impoverished territory.

Israel has also slammed an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation deal between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza.

On the economic front, Egypt said it would review a controversial gas deal with Israel signed by the Mubarak regime.