This is a story the mainstream media will not cover as it does not fit their narrative of terror groups as humanitarian organizations, however it is vital that people understand who is in charge of the Palestinian population in Gaza. On Sunday, Hamas, which is a terror organization that forcibly took over the Gaza strip over a decade ago and still rules it with an iron fist, announced the executions of 5 Gazans, 2 for working with the Israeli security forces and 3 for murder.
“On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against two condemned over collaboration with the occupation (Israel), and three others in criminal cases,” Hamas announced in a press release.
Guess what UN - nobody cares about 5 murdered Palestinians that Israel can't be blamed for. All those "pro-Palestinians" who parrot the words of a terror group like Hamas will be totally silent. BDS fanatics that will shout down any Israeli speaker SILENThttps://t.co/XInPOIeXAB
— ISRAELRADIOGUY🇮🇱 (@israelradioguy) September 6, 2022
The statement noted that the defendants had already been given “their full rights to defend themselves.” Hamas’s interior ministry added the initials and years of birth of the five executed Palestinians but refused to give their full names. The two executed over “collaboration” with Israel were both men born in 1978 and 1968. Hamas' justice system is arbitrary. Typically, charges are read and prosecutors proceed to present their case. Defense is limited and often denied the opportunity to question prosecution witnesses as many are 'anonymous' and much of the evidence is read into the record, rather than given directly.
It is justifiable that my friends in Hamas execute Palestinians, being as they are anti-imperialists resisting the evil that is Israel, and I would therefore call on @amnesty to write a report explaining how positive a step these executions are. I am sure they will. pic.twitter.com/k2c3J9HXj4
— Jeremy Corbin MP, Prime Ministerial Parody (@CorbynSnap) September 5, 2022
The older of the two killed for helping Israel was a resident of Khan Younis in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. He was convicted of being an Israeli informant back in 1991. Hamas further said the locals delivered Israel “information on men of the resistance, their residence and the location of rocket launchpads”.
Today’s executions of five men by Hamas authorities in Gaza are abhorrent. Judicial rulings mean little amid systematic torture, coercion & due process violations. Death as government-sanctioned punishment is a barbaric practice that has no place in the modern world. https://t.co/K4rHaI22H3
— Omar Shakir (@OmarSShakir) September 4, 2022
The second man was accused of supplying Israel in 2001 with intelligence “that led to the targeting and martyrdom of citizens” by Israeli forces, the statement noted. Israel only targets military leaders and it is highly probable that these men were targeted during a conflict.
The three others executed on Sunday had been charged and convicted of murder, the statement said. Sven Kuehn Von Burgsdorff, the European Union’s ambassador to the West Bank and Gaza, expressed his opinions in the aftermath of the executions.
“Hamas must respect Palestine’s obligations under international human rights law,” he said, noting the Palestinian Authority’s “moratorium on capital punishment.” Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in a bloody coup that is often described as a purge. The images of dead security men and mass executions litter the internet but Hamas has not been held to account by the International community to date.
“Executions are cruel and inhuman and can under no circumstances be justified as they deny the victims human dignity,” he further added in a statement.
Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, labeled the executions as “abhorrent.”
“Death as government-sanctioned punishment is a barbaric practice that has no place in the modern world,” he wrote on Twitter.
Hamas takes a rough approach toward collaborators with Israel. Israel, along with Egypt, has kept the Gaza border closed since Hamas brutally took over the territory in 2007.
Palestinian law requires approval from the Palestinian Authority president for the death penalty, but Hamas as a sovereign ruler in Gaza has carried out executions without permission from Mahmoud Abbas. The international community has repeatedly condemned Hamas’s frequent use of the death penalty.
