London, January 1: Football ace David Beckham and his AC Milan teammates had their New Year''s Eve celebrations cancelled, with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum calling off festivities following the violence in Gaza.

Al Maktoum said that "all public New Year''s celebrations" should be stopped "in solidarity with the Palestinian people, who were currently enduring death, suffering and destruction in Gaza".

The ruler's announcement prompted many hotels to revise their entertainment offerings, and sent the plans of tens of thousands of British ex-pats into disarray.

"Normally we have outdoor entertainment but this year it will be just indoors," the Mirror quoted a spokesman for the five-star Le Meridien hotel, popular among Britons for its all-you-can-drink champagne brunches, as saying.

A spokesman for the four-star Arabian Courtyard said that there would be no music or dancing to ring in the New Year.

However, the hotel''s restaurants and bars were to stay open. (ANI)