Gaza, October 08: The democratically elected Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that it is banning women from riding motorcycles and scooters in the enclave to preserve “traditions of our society.”
“We have taken a decision to prohibit women from riding motorcycles in order to preserve stability and traditions of our society,” the Hamas interior ministry said in a statement.
Women in conservative Gaza do not drive motorcycles, but sometimes ride as passengers.
Under Israeli siege, Gazans are becoming increasingly more conservative, pushing Hamas to show more keenness on traditional views held by the majority in the Strip.
But critics argue that such steps, though usually hailed locally, damage the image of Hamas abroad, during the legitimate struggle against illegal Israeli occupation.
Human rights groups, both international and Israeli, slammed Israel’s siege of Gaza, branding it “collective punishment.”
A group of international lawyers and human rights activists had also accused Israel of committing “genocide” through its crippling blockade of the Strip.
Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls air, sea and land access to the Strip.
The Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza’s sole border crossing that bypasses Israel, rarely opens as Egypt is under immense US and Israeli pressure to keep the crossing shut.
Fatah has little administrative say in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and has no power in Palestinian East Jerusalem, both of which were illegally occupied by Israel in 1967.
—Agencies