The head of Hamas' education committee in Gaza, Abdul Rahman el-Jamal, said that the Holocaust was a "big lie". Meanwhile, Hamas Education Minister Muhammad Askol criticized UNRWA, saying it was not respecting Hamas's "sovereignty" over Gaza. He said he planned to ask for a meeting with agency officials to "assure the necessary coordination". Hamas spiritual leader Yunis al-Astal said teaching children about the Nazi genocide of Jews would be "marketing a lie", and characterized the possible introduction of the subject into Gaza schools as a "war crime". Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that Hamas rejects any attempt to introduce the Holocaust into the curriculum as "a kind of normalization with Israel and an attempt to bridge the psychological gap between Israel and the Palestinians". Jamila al-Shanti, a Hamas legislative official, said: "Talk about the Holocaust and the execution of the Jews contradicts and is against our culture, our principles, our traditions, values, heritage and religion". Mustafa al-Sawwaf, editor of the Hamas-run newspaper Filastin, said the U.N. "should also be prevented from implementing this destructive policy that harms our history and civilization as well as our people's culture." UNRWA denied that it teaches the Holocaust in preparatory schools or that the Holocaust is included in the pupils' curriculum. Adnan Abu Hasna, UNRWA spokesman in Gaza, said: "Such reports are totally untrue. The current curriculum that is taught to pupils at UNRWA schools doesn't contain any indication to the subject of the Holocaust". Similarly, according to the Ma'an News Agency, UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Abu Zayd said at a press conference on 1 September, "I can refute allegations that UN school curriculum includes anything about the Holocaust. Anyone can have a look at the school books. Really we focus on human rights in [the] curriculum." The accuracy of this report was later contested by UNRWA. The agency also denied that it was planning to include the subject in its new curriculum. Mahmoud al-Hemdeyat, director of education department of UNRWA in the Gaza Strip, said: "UNRWA hasn't finished yet from finalizing the new curriculum... As far as I know, the curriculum doesn't include anything about the Holocaust". According to the Associated Press (AP), Karen Abu Zayd suggested information about the Holocaust could be included in later years, but the curriculum being developed was still in draft stage.