Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up GAZA, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Hamas Islamists who rule Gaza executed five Palestinians on Sunday, two of them on charges of spying for Israel dating back to 2015 and 2009, the enclave’s interior ministry said. run by Hamas. The dawn executions, by hanging or firing squad, were the first in the Palestinian territories since 2017. Previous cases of executions carried out in Gaza have drawn criticism from human rights groups. The ministry’s statement did not provide full names for any of those convicted. He said three had been convicted of murder. The two convicted spies, aged 44 and 54, had given Israel information that led to the killing of Palestinians. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Israel’s prime minister’s office, which oversees the country’s intelligence services, declined to comment. “The execution took place after all legal procedures had been completed. The decisions were final, binding, as all those convicted were granted full defense rights,” the statement said. Reuters could not immediately confirm this. Palestinian and international human rights groups have condemned the death penalty and urged Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to end the practice. Palestinian law says President Mahmoud Abbas has the final say on whether executions can take place. But it has no effective governance in Gaza. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned the executions by Hamas as a violation of Palestinian law. It said the move was also a violation of international commitments by the Palestinian Authority. Since Hamas took control of Gaza, its courts have sentenced about 180 Palestinians to death and executed 33 so far, PCHR said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Written by Nidal Almughrabi Edited by Frances Kerry and Raissa Kasolowsky Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Nidal Al-Mughrabi Thomson Reuters Senior correspondent with nearly 25 years of experience covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, including several wars and the signing of the first historic peace agreement between the two sides.
