GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On Oct. 21, the women’s preaching and guidance department of the Hamas-run Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza began a campaign called “Be Different” targeting high school and university students who do not wear the veil. It started in Gaza City and will expand to other cities in an effort to convince girls to wear the headscarf, which is considered an Islamic religious obligation. The project is set to run until May 2019.

Nadia al-Ghoul, head of the preaching and guidance department, said in an Oct. 21 statement published on the ministry’s website, “One of the campaign’s objectives is to promote the correct concepts of women's dress based on Sharia.” She noted that some girls might choose to go unveiled for “lack of Islamic awareness, or disadvantages in family upbringing.”

Hijab culture prevails among women in Palestinian society. Religious families force girls to start wearing the hijab when they reach puberty as a religious obligation. In religiously moderate families, many girls start wearing the hijab at 16. Meanwhile, a small group of Palestinian families do not observe hijab as either a religious obligation or a social custom, at any age. No official statistics are available on what portion of women wear the veil in the Gaza Strip.

Abeer al-Tartour, the preaching and guidance department’s field supervisor, told Al-Monitor, “The Be Different campaign includes sermons and lectures given by the department's preachers in schools and universities in Gaza City to spread the hijab culture among non-veiled students. It will also include home visits to talk to their mothers about the importance of wearing the veil.”