A Palestinian human rights group is condemning Gaza's militant Hamas rulers for preventing teenage students with scholarships to study in the US from leaving the territory.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in a statement on Wednesday that Hamas is refusing to allow eight students leave Gaza. It said that the students were granted AMIDEAST scholarships, a program that educates talented teenagers from the Middle East and North Africa for a year in the US.
The ban comes a day after rights groups criticized orders by Hamas forcing aid workers and employees of non government organizations to register with them before they travel.
Hamas also recently began auditing aid group accounts.
Hamas overran Gaza from the secular Palestinian Fatah party in bloody street battles in 2007.