Pakistan cancels New Year's celebrations in solidarity with Gaza

Pakistan has decided not to unveil New Year's Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, the government said, urging people to instead "observe simplicity."

In an evening televised address to the nation late Thursday, Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said that because of the Gaza situation, the government had "completely banned all kinds of events regarding the New Year celebrations".

Following an attack on Israel by Palestinian resistance groups on 7 October, Israel's relentless aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has left much of the northern part of the territory in ruins and killed at least 21,320 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

Kakar said Thursday, "The entire Pakistani nation and the Muslim Ummah were deeply saddened by the genocide of the oppressed Palestinians, especially the massacre of innocent children, in Gaza and the West Bank."

New Year's Eve is usually marked in boisterous fashion in Pakistan, with fireworks and aerial gunfire -- as well as a bank holiday on January 1.

Sharjah, an emirate of the United Arab Emirates, on Thursday banned New Year's Eve fireworks over the war in Gaza.

The ban was "a sincere expression of solidarity and humanitarian cooperation with our siblings in Gaza", Sharjah police said in a Facebook post.