Protests have broken out in the Gaza Strip against an Egyptian court's decision to declare Hamas a "terrorist" organization, just weeks after the Palestinian group's armed wing was given the same designation.

A judicial source told AFP news agency that the court issued the verdict on Saturday, a ruling seen as in keeping with a systematic crackdown on Islamist groups by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Palestinians throughout refugee camps and cities in Gaza held demonstrations in protest at the decision.

The verdict resulted from two separate private suits filed by two lawyers against Hamas, the de-facto rulers of Gaza, a 360sq km enclave.

Sami Abu Zuhri, the Hamas spokesman in Gaza City, denounced the ruling as "a desperate attempt to export Egypt's crisis".

"The Egyptian court decision ... is shocking, critical and targets the Palestinian people and Palestinian resistance forces," he said.

Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician, told Al Jazeera the verdict "is a very unwise decision" that carries political complications.

"Hamas is part of the Palestinian national unity movement, and this decision is not useful," Barghouti said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians attend Friday prayers during a protest against the decision of an Egyptian court to list Hamas' armed wing as a “terrorist” organization, outside the Egyptain embassy in Gaza City February 6, 2015.

Source: Aljazeera