GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Islamist movement Hamas on Monday launched a television channel for the Gaza Strip on which it plans to campaign for upcoming Palestinian parliamentary elections, it said.

With polls slated for January 25, initial tests are being carried out on the television channel, the first launched by a Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.

"The first transmission tests for Al-Aqsa Television in Gaza began today," with the station taking its name from the Jerusalem mosque which is the third holiest site in Islam, Hamas official Mahmoud al-Bik told AFP.

For up to three months, the channel will broadcast news bulletins and political and social programs, ahead of its official launch at a later date, he said.

Bik said the channel would also inform voters about the candidates standing for Hamas in the elections, only the second ever to the Ramallah-based parliament.

For the first time, Hamas, which has been behind the majority of attacks during a five-year uprising against Israel and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, is taking part in parliamentary elections.

The group already broadcasts programs on its "Voice of Al-Aqsa" radio.

For an experimental period, the television will broadcast from 10:00 am until 11:00 pm.