Hamas executed three people on Saturday, one of which was found guilty of “collaborating” with Israel and two others convicted of murder.
The man accused of collaborating with Israel was denounced as a “traitor.”
The ministry refused to reveal the identity of the executed men or the details of the allegations made against them, but said accusations include kidnapping, raping and killing a boy.
“Court proceedings in the Gaza Strip are not held in public, and defendants are identified only by their initials, so it can be difficult even to match announcements of executions with previous news of arrests or convictions,” noted the BBC.
While Palestinian law dictates that all executions are to be approved by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, since the split between Hamas and Fatah, the former refuses to recognize the authority of the latter.
This will not be the first execution of so-called collaborators. In April of 2010, Hamas executed two men for "collaborating" with Israel, the first formal execution carried out since the Islamist group seized control over the Gaza Strip in 2007. In December of that year, a Hamas military court similarly convicted three men of the same charges.
During Operation Cast Lead, at least eight people were murdered for providing Israel with information on local terrorist groups.
Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, at least 11 prisoners have been executed and more than 30 death sentences have been handed down by the courts, Reuters reported.