Footage has surfaced depicting the public executions of three individuals accused of collaborating with Israel in Gaza City. The BBC Verify organization confirmed that the executions took place on a street near Shifa hospital, amid an ongoing Israeli military offensive in the area.
Videos circulated on Sunday evening show five armed, masked individuals with three blindfolded Palestinian men kneeling before a large crowd. An armed man in the footage declares, “The death sentence has been decided for all collaborators.” Cheers from the crowd can be heard as the three men are subsequently shot multiple times. The crowd is reported to have expressed support for Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades.
According to a Palestinian security official from the Hamas-led Gaza government, the executions were conducted by the “Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance.” This event marks a rare instance of a public execution being recorded in Gaza. Previous reports indicate that Hamas has used violence against dissenters, including instances in May when four Palestinians were reportedly executed for looting aid.
In the videos, one of the armed men specifically identifies Yasser Abu Shabab as a key collaborator they intend to kill. Abu Shabab is associated with a clan allegedly armed by the Israeli government and positioned in Rafah, which is under Israeli military control. He has claimed to reject assertions regarding Israeli support for his group’s armament.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged in July that Israel was supplying arms to clans in Gaza purportedly opposed to Hamas. Reports from July also indicated that Hamas had lost significant control over Gaza, giving rise to these emerging armed clans.
As this unfolds, Israeli troops continue operations in Gaza City, stating their objective is to dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure and rescue hostages. The situation in Gaza remains dire, with the UN reporting ongoing humanitarian crises and significant population displacement amid the conflict that escalated following a Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Since this escalation, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claims that over 65,000 people have died due to Israeli attacks.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99g3p52k15o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss