GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (Transatlantic Today) — Hamas’s authorities in Gaza executed 5 Palestinian men on Sunday who had been found guilty of murder and suspected of collaborating with Israel.
However, activist groups have in the past questioned the fair norms in the civilian and military courts of the Islamic militant group, despite the Interior Ministry’s assertion that the killings were intended to create public deterrence and security.
According to ABC NEWS, the other 3 men were hung at dawn at a security post in Gaza City. Two of the men, who were also part of the Palestinian security services, were executed by firing squad.
The executions have been the first since 3 Gazans were executed by Hamas in 2017 following a hasty trial for the murder of a group commander.
After violent clashes with soldiers sympathetic to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, it has delivered 180 death sentences and carried out 33 of them without the approval of the Palestinian President, violating Palestinian law.
In 2018, the Palestinian Authority ratified international conventions that forbid the death penalty. The PA is headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and exercises limited self-government there.
According to the ministry, two of those executed on Sunday, ages 44 and 54, were accused of collaborating with Israel and giving it intelligence that enabled the Israeli force to attack sites in Gaza. Since 2009 and 2015, respectively, they have been in custody.
In separate trials, the 3 other defendants, including one man who is suspected of taking part in the July shooting deaths of a man and a young girl during a family quarrel, were convicted guilty of murder.
Since 2007, Israel and Hamas have engaged in four wars and countless minor conflicts, the most recent of which occurred in May 2021. The organisation is regarded as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the European Union, and the US because to its assaults on Israeli civilians.
