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Hamas bans celebrating New Year in Gaza Strip

Xinhua, December 31, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Islamic Hamas movement announced on Wednesday that the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are banned from celebrating the New Year, claiming that it contradicts with the Islamic Sharia law.

"Celebrating the New Year in the Gaza Strip contradicts with Islam and its regulations. It is a western tradition in the first place and we never accept to have it in Gaza," Hams police spokesman in Gaza Ayman Batniji said in a short text message sent to reporters.

He added that owners of hotels, cafes and restaurants were informed that they are not allowed to celebrate the New Year.

On Thursday night, the globe will mark the end of 2015 and the start of the new year.

In response, Gaza-based rights groups slammed the move and said the decision restricts public freedom in the impoverished and blockaded enclave.

Mustafa Ibrahim, a Gaza rights activist, told Xinhua that the police decision is "based on ideological considerations and it has nothing to do with the basic Palestinian law that guarantees public freedoms with no restrictions."

The Palestinian consensus government, which was formed in June 2014 upon an agreement between Hamas and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has repeatedly complained that Hamas still runs Gaza, especially in security.

Hamas, which violently seized the control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, is accused of trying to Islamize the enclave by imposing new rules and laws that contradict with the basic Palestinian law. Endit