GAZA, July 25 (Reuters) - Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamasclosed the offices of three media companies, including theSaudi-owned Al Arabiya television and Palestinian news agencyMaan, on Thursday, employees and a Hamas spokesman said.
Al Arabiya and Maan employees said Hamas security men hadarrived at their offices with an order from the attorney generalto shut down immediately and a Hamas spokesman said the step wastemporary, until an investigation was concluded.
"The attorney general received complaints, including fromthe Ministry of Information, that Al Arabiya and Maan reportedfalse news, fabrications and lies," said Hamas governmentspokesman Ehab al-Ghsain.
Ghsain did not single out any news reports, but Hamasofficials have in the past few days criticised coverage by AlArabiya and Maan of the Islamist group's tense relations withEgypt's new rulers as "damaging" to the Palestinian people.
The ousting by the Egyptian army of Islamist PresidentMohamed Mursi by the army has dealt a blow to Hamas, which is anoffshoot of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood.
The Egyptian military has cracked down on tunnels used tosmuggle goods and arms into Gaza from Egypt since Mursi's fall,choking the flow of goods into the Israeli-blockaded enclave.
Hamas has rejected suggestions that Gaza militants might behelping their counterparts in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, whereEgyptian security sources say radical groups have been launchingalmost daily attacks on Egyptian forces.
Apart from Al Arabiya and Maan, Ghsain said the office of aGaza-based production company called Lens was shut for"collaboration with Zionist media". An employee of Lens said ithad been contracted to report for a new news channel based inIsrael.
Maan is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank whereU.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival ofHamas, heads the Palestinian Authority, which has limitedself-rule in the territory.
The Palestinian Authority's Information Ministry condemnedHamas's measures as "a blow to the freedom of expression". (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, writing by Maayan Lubell;Editing by Alistair Lyon)
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