Hamas has banned any public New Year’s Eve celebrations throughout the Gaza Strip because they offend the “values and religious traditions” of the area, the terror group’s police force announced on Wednesday.
Hamas police spokesman Ayman al-Batinji told AFP that “the interior ministry and police department did not give permits to any restaurants, hotels or halls for end-of-year parties.”
Al-Batinji added that New Year’s Eve celebrations are “incompatible with our customs, traditions, values and the teachings of our religion.”
All parties have also been cancelled in the Strip, he added, in “solidarity with the families of the martyrs of the Jerusalem intifada,” referring to the recent wave of Palestinian terror striking Israel over the last several months.
In the past, cafes and hotels in Gaza were permitted to host closed New Year’s Eve events. However, Islamist Hamas has cracked down and begun restricting public celebrations in Gaza.
