The Hamas Movement has condemned the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) for banning Christians from the Gaza Strip from accessing holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem on religious holidays.
In a press statement on Thursday the Movement said that preventing Christians from reaching the holy places constitutes a flagrant violation of their right to worship.
The Movement called on the United Nations and the international community in addition to the human rights organizations to shoulder their responsibility towards the Palestinian people and stop the Israeli violations against Palestinian Christians.
It urged the international organizations to work towards holding the IOA accountable for violating the basic human rights of the Palestinian people above all the right to worship which are guaranteed by international law.
For his part Kamil Ayyad public relations director of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza said that the church provided the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority with a list of names of 800 Christians who wanted to go to Bethlehem in the West Bank to celebrate Christmas 200 of whom were denied permits.
At the beginning of 2022 the IOA prevented 331 out of 765 Christians from leaving the Gaza Strip to visit Bethlehem through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing according to Addameer Human Rights Association.
About 1500 Christians live in the Gaza Strip out of a total population of about two million who celebrate Christmas on both December 25 for the Latin Church and January 7 for the Orthodox Church.
