The Islamist Hamas organization executed three Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel, hanging the men during a campaign to persuade any Israeli-recruited agents to come forward in return for more lenient punishment. Hamas leaders and officials, along with the heads of Gazan clans and local security chiefs, watched the execution in the courtyard of the enclave’s main police headquarters. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said the men, aged 32, 42 and 55, were convicted of treason and spying for hostile foreign parties and had provided information that helped Israel track and kill Palestinian, including leaders of militant factions. The Islamist organization said their trials were conducted by Hamas-run security courts in the past two years and they were put to death after all legal procedures were exhausted.
“We carried out the executions today in accordance with the measures taken by the Interior Ministry to fight the collaborators and the spies of the Israeli occupation. It is a message aimed at anyone who collaborates with the occupation, so they know that the (Hamas) security forces will reach anyone who threatens the security of our Palestinian society,” said Ead Bozom, Hamas Interior Ministry Spokesman.
Over the years, Israel has established a network of collaborators in the Palestinian territories, which has provided Jerusalem with vital information of suspected terrorists who seek to harm the Jewish state. According to Human rights groups, since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party in 2007, Hamas-run courts have sentenced 106 people to death and executed 22 of them for collaborating with Israel.