Gaza ‘collaborator’ sentenced to death, says Hamas

A Palestinian found guilty of “collaborating” with Israel has been sentenced to death by a military court in the Gaza Strip, the interior ministry of Hamas, which controls the territory, said on Thursday.

The defendant, identified only by his initials KC, was “condemned to capital punishment by hanging for collaborating with the Zionist occupier,” ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan announced on Facebook.

It was the fifth death sentence handed down by the Hamas authorities in Gaza since the beginning of the year.

Authorities of the Islamist movement, which took power in Gaza in 2007, carried out their first executions in April 2010 when they hanged two men convicted of collaborating with Israel.

Under Palestinian law, those convicted of collaborating, murder or drug trafficking face the death penalty.