‘Punishment of bullets’: Hamas executes 11 Palestinians accused of ‘collaborating’ with Israel

These executions are likely only the start of a widespread crackdown on those in Gaza who are suspected of ‘collaborating with Israel.’

By Jack Elbaum, The Algemeiner

Hamas murdered 11 Palestinians in Gaza on Thursday which the terrorist organization accused of “collaborating” with Israel, according to Hamas-aligned media sources.

Gaza Now, a Hamas-aligned news outlet based in Gaza, reported on Thursday that “six collaborators of the Zionist occupation were executed in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, a short while ago.”

“And punishing 17 others by shooting them in the feet as a result of exploiting the suffering of the people of Gaza and cooperating with the occupation in suffocating the people, raising prices, and stealing humanitarian aid, including merchants,” Gaza Now added.

Then, the news outlet reported that “five collaborators of the Zionist occupation were executed in the southern Gaza Strip a short while ago, bringing the number of collaborators executed today to 11.”

Video posted by Gaza Now shows what appear to be Hamas terrorists shooting civilians who are lying on the ground.

According to the outlet, these executions are likely only the start of a widespread crackdown on those in Gaza who are suspected of “collaborating with Israel.”

Adding that executions will begin to take place across the Gaza Strip, not just in Rafah, the outlet said that “a special unit of the security services in Gaza will strike with an iron fist, and there will be no repentance for anyone except the punishment of bullets.”

In response to the news, Hamza Hawidy, a Palestinian originally from Gaza City who is a peace activist, explained that this was to be “expected” from Hamas, which has ruled Gaza with brutal force since it first took over the coastal enclave in the mid-2000s.

“This isn’t a novel tactic,” Hawidy argued. “It’s an age-old strategy employed by Hamas to silence critics and instill fear among citizens who oppose their rule. I would greatly welcome a position from the pro-Palestinian movement advocating for pressure on Hamas to end its ongoing oppression of the people in Gaza.”

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who is a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and a Palestinian peace activist originally from Gaza, argued that “many ‘human rights’ organizations around the world have long seen the videos of Hamas’s terrorist thugs brutalizing the civilian population in Gaza, never saying a word of acknowledgment or condemnation because, apparently, Palestinian lives are only worthwhile when Israeli military attacks kill them.”

He added that “anyone who is still remaining silent about Hamas’s brutal anti-Palestinian terrorism in Gaza after the ceasefire, when there is conclusive, visual, and overwhelming evidence of the group’s criminality, deserves to be ridiculed and forever shunned by the human rights activism and advocacy communities.”