An Amnesty report says it loud and clear: Islamist movement Hamas forces in Gaza “committed serious human rights abuses, including abductions, torture and summary and extrajudicial executions with impunity during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict”.
The report, entitled Strangling Necks, covered the August 2015 war “Protective Edge” which lasted 50 days between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
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The report adds, “To date, no one has been held to account for committing these unlawful killings and other abuses, either by the Hamas de facto administration that continues to control Gaza and its security and judicial institutions, or by the Palestinian “national consensus” government that has had nominal authority over Gaza since June 2014.”
A previous report from March found that rockets fired during the war by Gaza terrorists killed more Palestinians than Israelis.
The new report continues, “Hamas forces also abducted, tortured or attacked members and supporters of Fatah, their main rival political organization within Gaza, including former members of the Palestinian Authority security forces”.
And, “Not a single person has been held accountable for the crimes committed by Hamas forces against Palestinians during the 2014 conflict, indicating that these crimes were either ordered or condoned by the authorities.”
One of the stories the Amnesty International published highlights a brutal incident conducted in Gaza on August 22, 2014.
“In one of the most shocking incidents, six men were publicly executed by Hamas forces outside al-Omari mosque … in front of hundreds of spectators, including children, ” Amnesty said. Hamas had announced the men were suspected collaborators” who had been sentenced to death in “revolutionary courts, ” the rights group added.
“The hooded men were dragged along the floor to kneel by a wall facing the crowd, then each man was shot in the head individually before being sprayed with bullets fired from an AK-47.”
Sixteen people killed by Hamas were already being held by the militant group when the conflict erupted and many of them were waiting to hear the verdict of their Hamas-organized trials. “Many had been sentenced after trials before courts whose proceedings are grossly unfair. A number had said they had been tortured in order to extract ‘confessions, ‘” the report said.
Amnesty’s report also said that Hamas abducted and tortured people in an outpatient clinic that was no longer in use, within the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, Shifa.
Amnesty has been critical of the militant activity of both Israel and Palestinian militants in previous reports, accusing both sides of war crimes during the conflict. The IDF has opened investigations into deadly incidents that took place during the war.
Amnesty called on the Palestinian authorities to “impartially and independently” investigate the allegations, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Hamas rejected the allegations.
