In the wake of its peace agreement Together with Israel, the terrorist group Hamas is back on the streets of the Gaza Strip, in an attempt, it says, to restore law and order, and to send a message.
In a video obtained by CBS News on Wednesday, Hamas fighters are seen among armed men standing over Palestinians they accused of being gang members working with Israel. Moments later they execute them.
The disturbing images are part of a long-standing pattern of punishment imposed on suspected collaborators, according to Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin.
“Hamas kills them because they can,” Baskin told CBS News. “Hamas is a criminal organization that has ruled the Palestinian people in Gaza for almost twenty years. This is not a democratic, liberal regime.”
Baskin explains that Palestinian militias opposed to Hamas have been armed by Israel during the war in an attempt to weaken Hamas’s power.
“Israel, with weapons and money, has empowered gangs of Palestinians who in the past were involved in mainly illegal activities – selling drugs, illegal smuggling – and empowered them as an alternative to Hamas,” Baskin said. “This is not sustainable.”
President Trump appeared to acknowledge on Tuesday that Hamas was involved in violence against Palestinian militias.
“They took out some gangs that were very bad gangs, very, very bad,” Trump said of Hamas while speaking to reporters. “And that didn’t bother me that much, to be honest.”
The American peace agreement, ultimately still in its first phase asks for an interim governing body made up of “qualified Palestinians and international experts” and overseen by a “Council of Peace” chaired by Mr Trump, but which has yet to be established.
“There is no government in Gaza, there are no schools, there are no ministries, there is no place for anyone to go to get help,” Baskin said. There is currently a governance vacuum in Gaza.”
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