Hamas confirmed the executions, the first in the Gaza Strip since 2005.
The Al Misan Human Rights Group said the two bodies — identified as
Mohammed Ismail and Nasser Abu Freh — were taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza
City for identification and removal by their families.
In February 2009, Abu Freih, a 34-year-old police sergeant, was
convicted of treason by a military court. Ismail, a 36-year-old taxi driver,
had been convicted of espionage. Both men confessed to spying or conducting
operations for Israel.
International human rights groups had urged the Hamas regime to order a
stay of execution. They said at least 32 people were killed in early 2009
during and after the Israel war with Hamas.
"Today's executions are an extremely retrograde step by Hamas," Hassiba
Hadj Sahraoui, a deputy program director at Amnesty International, said.
"As these are the first executions since 2005, we are gravely concerned for
the other Palestinian prisoners in Gaza who have been given death sentences
by the military courts."
Palestinian sources said the Hamas executions were meant to warn against
rising unrest in the Gaza Strip amid a financial crisis. The sources said
the Hamas leadership has been concerned over the prospect of riots by Al
Qaida-aligned supporters and the rising number of young unemployed in a
campaign directed by the rival Palestinian Authority.
"The death penalty will be implemented for [Israeli] agents who have
been sentenced to death, regardless of the position of rights groups that
reject these kinds of sentences," Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hammad said
before the executions.
