section_path: Demographics/Religion
section_name: Religion
paragraph_text: Religion
  
  Sunni Muslims make up 99.8 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip, with an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 (0.2 percent) Arab Christians.
  
  From 1987 to 1991, during the First Intifada, Hamas campaigned for the wearing of the hijab head-cover. In the course of this campaign, women who chose not to wear the hijab were verbally and physically harassed by Hamas activists, leading to hijabs being worn "just to avoid problems on the streets".
  
  Since Hamas took over in 2007, attempts have been made by Islamist activists to impose " Islamic dress " and to require women to wear the hijab. The government's "Islamic Endowment Ministry" has deployed Virtue Committee members to warn citizens of the "dangers of immodest dress, card playing and dating". However, there are no government laws imposing dress and other moral standards, and the Hamas education ministry reversed one effort to impose Islamic dress on students. There has also been successful resistance to attempts by local Hamas officials to impose Islamic dress on women.
  
  According to Human Rights Watch, the Hamas-controlled government stepped up its efforts to "Islamize" Gaza in 2010, efforts it says included the "repression of civil society" and "severe violations of personal freedom."
  
  Palestinian researcher Khaled Al-Hroub has criticized what he called the " Taliban -like steps" Hamas has taken: "The Islamization that has been forced upon the Gaza Strip—the suppression of social, cultural, and press freedoms that do not suit Hamas's view—is an egregious deed that must be opposed. It is the reenactment, under a religious guise, of the experience of totalitarian regimes and dictatorships." Hamas officials denied having any plans to impose Islamic law. One legislator stated that "hat you are seeing are incidents, not policy" and that "we believe in persuasion".
  
  Violence against Christians has been recorded. The owner of a Christian bookshop was abducted and murdered and in February 2008, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) library in Gaza City was bombed. At least eighteen people were killed when Israel bombed the Church of Saint Porphyrius, which is the oldest in Gaza, on 19 October 2023.
  
  In addition to Hamas, a Salafist movement began to appear about 2005 in Gaza, characterized by "a strict lifestyle based on that of the earliest followers of Islam". As of 2015, there are estimated to be only "hundreds or perhaps a few thousand" Salafists in Gaza.