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Hamas releases video showing street execution of 'collaborators'
Hamas's armed groups are carrying out a campaign against Palestinian criminal gangs and clans in Gaza in the wake of a ceasefire with Israeli forces.
The Hamas militant group has published an online video showing its fighters executing eight blindfolded, bound and kneeling men in the street.
Hamas's armed groups are carrying out a campaign against Palestinian criminal gangs and clans in Gaza in the wake of a ceasefire with Israeli forces.
The video was broadcast late Monday on Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV's Telegram channel with the caption: "The resistance carries out the death sentence against a number of collaborators and outlaws in Gaza City."
The stark images, showing the gunmen killing the men at close range in a busy street before a crowd of onlookers, quickly went viral on social media.
It also triggered a rebuke from a Palestinian human rights group.
The Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), a body established by the Palestinian Authority in 1993, issued a statement demanding an "end to extrajudicial and arbitrary executions in the Gaza Strip".
"The wave of extrajudicial executions and shootings in the legs that occurred after the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip cannot be justified under any circumstances," the group said.
"They constitute a legal and moral crime that requires immediate condemnation and accountability."
In Gaza, Hamas security officials -- and many residents who told AFP they were eager for a return to order after the ceasefire in the two-year-old war with Israel -- have tried to justify recent killings.
A security source in Gaza told AFP that a recently established Hamas unit, whose name translates as "Deterrence Force," was conducting "ongoing field operations to ensure security and stability".
"Our message is clear: There will be no place for outlaws or those who threaten the security of citizens," he said.
