Hamas taps woman to be Gaza's link to foreign media

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Hamas government of the Gaza Strip has for the first time appointed a woman to represent it to the world.

The hiring of Isra Almodallal as a spokeswoman for the territory’s conservative Islamist rulers is part of a long-running push by the group — which has sought at times to curb women’s freedoms — to present a newer, friend-

lier face both to its citizens and internationally.

Almodallal, a 23-year-old who speaks fluent British-accented English, has assumed a post normally held by tough-talking men who voice Hamas’ bitter opposition to Israel.

She will be responsible for the Gaza government’s communications with the international media.

“We are looking forward to having a different and unique language,” Almodallal said in an interview in her Gaza City office in her first week on the job. “We will make the issues more human.”

Almodallal, a divorced mother of a 4-year-old girl, does not have her roots in the Hamas movement. She was raised in Gaza and spent five years in Britain as a teenager.

Upon returning to Gaza, she studied journalism at the Islamic University and worked as a TV reporter for a local station and an English-language satellite channel.