A video posted to YouTube Wednesday shows what appears to be a school principal slapping a student across the face for his Western-style haircut before instructing the student to shave his head, according to the Palestinian Press News Agency.
The news agency reports that the video was shot at the Khaled bin Walid Secondary School for Boys, located in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. The story cites witnesses who claim authorities have arrested area youth and brought them to detention centers where their heads were shaved.
The video was posted days after new rules issued by the Hamas Education Ministry barred men from teaching at girls' schools and segregated classrooms by gender from the age of nine. Reuters reports that these rules have sparked debate between those who say lawmakers are properly working to "codify conservative Palestinian values into law" and those who argue Islamists are forcing their beliefs upon the rest of Gaza's population.
Hamas has implemented its policies incrementally, according to the Associated Press.
"In nearly six years in power, Hamas has moved gradually, imposing some changes, such as banning women from smoking water pipes in public, but has rescinded decrees or stopped enforcing them if the public resisted," AP reports.