Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip

GAZA: HAMAS EXECUTES TWO PALESTINIANS CONVICTED OF SPYING FOR ISRAEL

June 22, 2013: the Hamas authorities in Gaza executed two Palestinians convicted of providing information to Israel. The Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement that the two informants were hanged in Gaza’s central jail early in the morning. Hamas did not release their names but said the two men had been sentenced to death on charges of “spying for a hostile foreign party and attempted murder,” and they were put to death after a “legal process”.
The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B'Tselem, identified the two men as ‘Imad Mahmoud Ibn Ghalyun, 49, of Gaza, and Hussein Yusef al-Khatib, 43, of Khan Yunis. Ghalyun was convicted on 13 January 2013 of espionage and sentenced to death. His sentence was upheld in appeal on 16 May 2013. Al-Khatib was convicted on 10 January 2013 of collaboration with hostile entities and accessory to murder. His sentence was upheld in appeal on 23 May 2013.
Hamas’ Interior Ministry released four photographs of the hanging. In one of the photographs, a black plastic bag covered the head of one of the men. The ministry said that the two men had provided Israel with information about security and military targets in Gaza, including information about houses and vehicles used by militants and metal workshops, which Israel says are used for manufacturing rockets and weapons. The Hamas interior ministry said that two collaborators who had been providing Israel with information for more than a decade caused the killing of several members of Palestinian resistance groups, as well as children.
According to Hamas, the two Palestinians had agreed to cooperate with occupiers in return for entry permits to Israel. In a statement aimed at avoiding international condemnation, Hamas announced that the first collaborator had agreed to collaborate with Israel in 2003 in return for an entry permit to accompany his mother for treatment in Israel, while the second collaborator, who also recruited his wife, cooperated with Israel in return for an Israeli work permit.
In March, Hamas announced a campaign against collaboration with Israel, promising amnesty to any informant who turned himself in during a two-month period. The group has not released the results. (Sources: www.nytimes.com and gulfnews.com, 23/06/2013)