Five Palestinians were executed in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Sunday morning. Two had been found guilty of collaboration with Israel and three had been convicted of murder.
A statement published by the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior said that two men were executed by firing squad and three by hanging. The statement did not identify the men by name.
Death sentences are supposed to be approved by the Palestinian Authority president in accordance with Palestinian law. But Hamas, which has been controlling the Gaza Strip since 2007, has carried out executions in the past without seeking such approval.
The Ministry of Interior said one of the convicts, a 44-year-old resident of Gaza City, was arrested on October 30, 2009, on charges of “communicating with hostile foreign parties” and working for Israeli intelligence since 2001.
According to the ministry, the man provided Israel with information that led to the killing of Palestinians.
The second man accused of collaboration with Israel was a 54-year-old resident of Khan Yunis. Hamas claimed that the convict, who was arrested on February 15, 2015, was recruited as an informant in 1991.
He was accused of providing Israeli security forces with information about members of Hamas and other armed groups, including their places of residence and their jobs, as well as the locations for launching and manufacturing rockets.
The third man, a 43-year-old resident of Gaza City, has been in jail since 2004. He was found guilty of the kidnapping and murder of a woman. In 2009, he managed to escape from prison and committed another murder.
The fourth, a 30-year-old resident of the northern Gaza Strip, was arrested on October 30, 2013, on charges of robbery and murder.
The two were executed by hanging.
The fifth man, a 26-year-old from the northern Gaza Strip, was executed by firing squad. He was arrested on July 14, 2022, for murdering a man and a girl and injuring 11 others during a family dispute. The man was said to be a member of Hamas’s security forces.
15 Palestinians executed since the beginning of the year
The Gaza-based Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights said that since the beginning of this year, 15 Palestinians have been sentenced to death by Hamas.
“Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights condemns the continuous issuance of death sentences in the Gaza Strip and reiterates its strongest criticism of the use of this practice, which constitutes a form of inhuman punishment contrary to international legal standards,” the group said in a statement. “Also, this punishment violates Palestine’s obligations under international human rights law.”
“Al-Mezan Center For Human Rights condemns the continuous issuance of death sentences in the Gaza Strip and reiterates its strongest criticism of the use of this practice, which constitutes a form of inhuman punishment contrary to international legal standards.”
Al-Mezan Center For Human Rights