GAZA CITY: Gaza's Hamas rulers yesterday executed a Palestinian convicted of collaborating with Israel and two others deemed complicit in murder, an Interior Ministry statement said. It said the three men were hanged in a "security center" in Gaza City.It was the first time this year that the Islamist movement had carried out an execution of someone accused of "collaborating" with the Israelis. The ministry statement did not give the men's names, ages or any other information.
London-based human rights organization Amnesty International said on Thursday that a fourth man was currently on death row.
The last time the death sentence for aiding Israel was carried out was in July 2011, when two Palestinians were executed on the charge. A month later, three more people were executed on charges unrelated to collaboration, rights groups say.
Israeli security forces routinely use Palestinian informers to thwart attacks and assist in the assassination of top fighters.
| It sure seems like there must be an awful lot of Palestinian collaborators, given how many attacks are thwarted and top fighters assassinated... |
It was not clear if either or both of those were hanged yesterday. Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are all punishable by death. In recent months, Hamas has arrested several alleged collaborators, and warned it would prosecute any "traitor" working for the Jewish state.