Leaked Address Of Hamas Member's House To Rocket Launch Site To Israel, Seven Gazans Sentenced To Death

JAKARTA - A military court in Gaza, Palestine sentenced seven people to death on Sunday for collaborating with Israel, Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said.

The court also sentenced seven other people to life in prison with forced labor, each for 25 years.

The ministry published details of the defendants, who were detained between 2017 and 2019, claiming that some of them had provided information about the home and contacts of Hamas members, to the location of the tunnel as well as the rocket launch site to Israeli authorities.

Hamas, who has ruled a blocked enclave since 2007, has regularly imposed the death penalty on people proven to be collaborating with Israel.

Some of the alleged collaborations have been going on for more than two decades, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported by The National News Aug. 7.

In September, the ministry executed two Palestinians for collaborating with Israel, as well as three others on charges of murder.

Last April, two people were sentenced to death and four others were sentenced to life on the same charge.

Meanwhile, last year, a total of at least 17 death sentences were handed down by the court.

The Hamas group is said to have ignored a decision requiring the death penalty to be approved by the president of the Palestinian Authority, headquartered in Israel's occupied West Bank.

A defendant, from the Bureij refugee camp, is said to have collaborated with Israel since 2007 after being contacted by an intelligence officer, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

Other defendants are said to have worked with Israel from 2011 to 2018 and received money in exchange for information regarding Hamas members, identifying their homes and cars as well as the site where the missile was launched.

Another man faces the death penalty for in contact with Israel in 1996, after meeting with an intelligence officer at the Beit Hanoun crossing, which connects Gaza with Israel.

Israel and Hamas have been involved in several wars since the group took power.

About 2.3 million Palestinians live in the Gaza Strip, which has been under a strong blockade by Israel since the militant group took over.

The rare demonstration last week comes amid growing dissatisfaction with the Hamas administration, which has not helped much to alleviate the daily suffering of Gaza's population.

"One of the main monuments to corruption in Gaza is that the people live in sieges and Hamas leaders live in palaces abroad," demonstration organizer Rami Herzallah told The National.