Hamas bans New Year's celebrations in Gaza Strip

Gaza City (dpa) - Police in the Gaza Strip announced on Wednesday that New Year‘s celebrations in the coastal enclave are banned as a contradiction of Islam."Celebrating New Year in the Gaza Strip contradicts Islam and its regulations," Gaza police spokesman Ayman Batniji announced in a text message to reporters, adding: "It is a Western tradition in the first place, and we will never accept it in Gaza."Hotel owners, cafes and restaurants had been notified that they may not have events celebrating the year‘s end Thursday night, Batniji stated. However as the announcement came, some hotels and restaurants had already announced special festive dinners.Gaza-based rights groups slammed the police ban, saying in separate statements that the decision restricted public freedoms.According to Gaza residents, the police move was the first time the Islamist extremist Hamas movement - the de facto rulers of the salient - formally banned such celebrations in an advanced announcement.In previous years, police in practice told hotel, restaurant or bar owners to cut short celebrations of the Western New Year on various occasions, but no such official policy was ever announced.Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed a "consensus government" in June 2014 in a bid to end the de facto split between Hamas-run Gaza and the Abbas-run West Bank, but critics complain that on the ground Hamas still runs Gaza, especially in regard to security.