Global media is reporting that Hamas has been accused by Amnesty International of using last summer’s war in Gaza to carry out human rights abuses including summary executions and torture. According to one report:
Hamas has been accused of using the cover of last summer’s war in Gaza to carry out summary executions, including to “settle scores” against opponents under the pretext they were “collaborators with Israel”.
The claims that Hamas committed rights abuses amounting to war crimes are made in a damning report by Amnesty International highlighting abuses committed by Hamas during last summer’s 50-day war.
It includes accusations that Hamas carried out the summary execution of at least 23 Palestinians and the arrest and torture of dozens of others, including members and supporters of Hamas’s political rivals, Fatah.
lAlthough Hamas described many of the summary executions as retribution against collaborators, according to Amnesty’s research some 16 were already in prison either serving sentences or in the midst of ongoing legal processes at the time the conflict broke out.
The group’s Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther, said: “It is absolutely appalling that, while Israeli forces were inflicting massive death and destruction upon the people in Gaza, Hamas forces took the opportunity to ruthlessly settle scores, carrying out a series of unlawful killings and other grave abuses.
“In the chaos of the conflict, the de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses, including against people in its custody. These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip.”
Read the rest here.
For the full Amnesty report, go here.
The Hamas charter says that it is “one of the wings of the Muslim Brothers in Palestine” and soon after Hamas took over the Gaza strip.
For more on Hamas, go here.