The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip has decreed it a sin to break the ceasefire with Israel that ended eight days of fierce cross-border violence, dpa reported.
The edict was issued late Saturday by Gaza's Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Deals between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, which rules the Strip, have often been jeopardized by militant factions who do not come under Hamas authority.
The ministry edit gives religious legitimacy to the truce, and appears to show that the Hamas government is serious about its enforcement.
On Friday, Hamas sent its policemen to patrol the volatile border area in the southern Gaza Strip, where Palestinians were demonstrating, after one person was shot dead when he rushed to the heavily-guarded border fence and ignored Israeli warnings to halt.