Hamas Executes Two Palestinians for Collaborating with Israel

Gaza's Hamas rulers on Tuesday executed two Palestinians convicted of collaboration with Israel, the interior ministry said in a statement.

It was the second time this year that the Islamist movement had carried out an execution of someone accused of 'collaborating' with the Israelis.

The statement did not say how the death sentence was carried out, and it was not immediately clear when the two men were convicted.

In May, a man referred to as A.S. was executed by firing squad after being convicted of collaboration a month earlier.

Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel, murder and drug trafficking are all punishable by death.

By law, all execution orders must be approved by the Palestinian president before they can be carried out, but Hamas no longer recognizes the legitimacy of Mahmoud Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009.

In recent months, Hamas has arrested several alleged collaborators, and warned it would prosecute any "traitor" working for the Jewish state.

In March, a Gaza military court condemned a man to death and sentenced another to 15 years of forced labor for collaborating with Israel. Both judgments are subject to appeal.

In April 2010, Gaza's Hamas rulers carried out a death sentence against two Palestinians accused of collaboration in the first such execution since the Islamists seized power in 2007.

A month later, three more people were executed on charges unrelated to collaboration, human rights groups say.

Israeli security forces routinely use Palestinian informers to thwart militant attacks and assist in the assassination of top militants.