Hamas to execute 26
Hamas to execute 26

Hamas to execute 26

While the human rights situation in Gaza remains dire with rife unemployment and limited access, Hamas has called on 'collaborators' to hand themselves over.
Yanna Smith
Hamas is to carry out 26 executions of Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel and committing other crimes, in Gaza, according to reports.

Public prosecutor Ismail Jabir said that the 26 execution orders issued against Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel, or other criminal charges, would be carried out in 2017, although it remained unclear if the executions would all occur in the coming 12 months before April 2018, or only in 2018, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported.

Jabir's statement follows the executions of three men last Thursday who were suspected of helping Israel in the assassination of a leading military member of the Islamist group several weeks ago. Mazen Fuqahaa was shot dead by assailants who allegedly arrived in the Gaza Strip by sea. Israel's siege on Gaza includes a blockade of its coast. Following the execution, Hamas launched a massive security crackdown which prevented Palestinians from leaving Gaza through the Erez border crossing with Israel, as well as a gag order on its ongoing investigation into suspected collaborators.

The organisation recently announced “a week of repentance” in which those suspected of working with Israel should hand themselves over or face dire consequences. Under Palestinian law executions can only be carried out after being ratified by Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. However, the PA, which nominally controls the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is at loggerheads with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip following 2007's fighting between the two groups which left two opposing authorities.

Hamas accuses Abbas of being illegally in control of the West Bank as his term was supposed to end in 2006. However, he has remained in power as no national elections have been held since the 2007 fighting. The decision by the Gaza-based group to carry out executions has been condemned by both the PA, rights groups and the European Union (EU). Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza continues to deteriorate rapidly after the PA decided last week to cut salaries to its 60 000 Gaza employees, most of them sole breadwinners, by 30% after claiming financial difficulties.

However, PA employees in the West Bank were not subject to the pay cuts and continue to receive their full salaries. Following the 2007 schism between the PA and Hamas, the PA ordered its Gaza employees to stop reporting for work or be cut off the payroll.

Following the pay cut the response was immediate with tens of thousands of angry PA employees and their families taking to the streets of Gaza City over the weekend in protest. During the protest they called for the resignation of PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and finance minister Shukri Bishara. Calls were also heard for the resignation of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The economic situation in the coastal territory remains dire. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in December last year that the unemployment rate by mid-2016 was almost 42%, among the highest in the world. Youth unemployment stands at 60% among males and 65% among females. Gaza is one of the world's most densely populated areas with 2 million people crammed into an area of 365 square metres. Farmers are forbidden from trying to access their agricultural land within 300 metres of Gaza's border with Israel and if they do so are shot at by Israeli soldiers monitoring the borders.

Fishermen are allowed to access less than a third of the fishing areas allocated under the 1993 Oslo Accords. Some 47% of households in Gaza suffer from moderate or severe food insecurity, while more than 70% of Gaza's population receives some form of international aid, the bulk of which is food assistance.

NAMPA/ANA

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-28

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 225.29/OZ UP +1.58% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.07% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.57/BBP UP +1.36% | Platinum US$ 909.21/OZ UP +1.60%