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Hamas sentences two to death in Gaza for 'collaborating with Israel'
Hamas authorities in the besieged Gaza Strip said they have sentenced two men to death by hanging and two others to hard labour for collaborating with Israel.
A court in the enclave ordered that the two men, from Khan Younis and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, be hanged, according to reports.
It is unclear when the sentence will be carried out.
The Islamist group has not yet made an official statement regarding when the executions will be carried out.
According to human rights group, B’Tselem, Hamas has sentenced 130 people to death since 2007 and has executed 25 people.
Under Palestinian law, all death sentences must be ratified by the president, currently Mahmoud Abbas, but since Hamas's takeover of Gaza in 2007 the group has ignored his authority.
During the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, Hamas executed at least 23 Palestinians accused of collaboration. Many were lined up in the street, blindfolded, and executed by Hamas gunmen, in what Amnesty International said could amount to war crimes.
The use of the death penalty in Gaza has been consistently condemned by human rights groups.
In 2017, Human Rights Watch said that Hamas's use of the death penalty "smacks of militia rule, not the rule of law", accusing the group of relying on confessions in a system where "coercion, torture and deprivation of detainee's rights are prevalent".
Israel has also been condemned by human rights groups for the detention of thousands of Palestinian prisoners and extra-judicial killings.