Hamas needs the women and children as shields.
Via The Telegraph:
When Yasmin Shath, a 28-year-old bank clerk, saw the notice on Facebook she froze.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza strip, had announced they were banning dog walking.
Ms Shath’s thoughts immediately turned to Raed, her family’s lumbering two-year-old German Shepherd who lives in the garage of their home in Gaza City.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Everyone tagged me in the notice on Facebook because they know I am a dog lover. I thought: this can’t be true.”
But it was. And in the three weeks since Hamas announced the ban dog owners in Gaza have been forced to keep their pets indoors, often in small apartments with no air conditioning amid the rising summer heat.
Ayman al-Batniji, a Hamas police spokesman, said the ban had been introduced because women and children were frightened of the animals.
“In recent weeks, the phenomenon of young men walking with their dogs in the streets has widely spread. It is neither of our culture nor of our traditions. Children and women feel scared when they see dogs,” he told The Telegraph. “Our duty is to maintain the safety of citizens.”
Mr al-Batniji said the ban only applied to populated areas like city streets, beaches and markets and said people could take their dogs into the fields to walk them there. For many people without cars, however, a drive into the countryside is not an option.
“We are not against dogs, we use dogs in our work,” the police spokesman insisted. “The ban is simply to protect our women and children.”