The United Nations on Monday condemned Gaza’s Hamas rulers after five Palestinian Arabs were executed on Sunday, two of them for helping Israel.
“We condemn the execution of five prisoners in Gaza and urge the de facto authorities in Gaza to establish a moratorium on all executions. We call on the State of Palestine to take robust measures to abolish the death penalty in all its territory,” said UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani in a statement.
She added, “There are serious concerns that criminal proceedings resulting in the imposition of death sentences in Gaza do not meet international fair trial standards. The approval of the President of Palestine was not secured, as required by national law, nor were there opportunities for the executed prisoners to seek clemency or a pardon.”
“Having ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as a matter of international law, Palestine is obliged to abolish executions,” said the spokesperson.
Sunday’s dawn executions in Gaza were the first since 2017. The five unidentified men were killed by either hanging or firing squad.
Hamas’ Interior Ministry said two convicted spies, aged 44 and 54, assisted Israel by giving it information that resulted in the deaths of two Palestinian Arabs.
Hamas regularly claims to have captured “Israeli spies”, and many times it tries them and sentences them to death.
In October of 2018, the group claimed to have exposed and arrested a Palestinian Arab who had worked as an intelligence agent for Israel for 15 years.
In March of that year, the group claimed it had arrested a local man who had been working as a “spy” for Israel and who intended to convince Gazans not to take part in a violent protest march along the Gaza-Israel border.
In 2019, Hamas reportedly uncovered an Israeli espionage attempt against one of the organization's commanders.
In October of 2021, Hamas sentenced six Palestinian Arab "informants" to death for collaborating with Israel.
In theory all execution orders in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) territories must be approved by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in Ramallah and who imposed a moratorium on executions several years ago.
Hamas no longer recognizes Abbas’ legitimacy, and has in the past emphatically declared that the death penalty in Gaza can be carried out without his consent.