Hamas executes five people, including two for collaboration with Israel

The executions in the Gaza Strip are believed to be the first carried out by the group since 2017

Hamas militants stage a parade to commemorate a top commander killed during the 11-day war with Israel in May last year. AP Photo

The Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip has said it executed five Palestinians on Sunday, including two for "collaboration" with Israel.

"On Sunday morning, the death sentence was carried out against two condemned over collaboration with the occupation [Israel], and three others in criminal cases," Hamas said in a statement.

It said the executions were carried out after the defendants had been given "their full rights to defend themselves".

Hamas's interior ministry provided the initials and years of birth of the five executed Palestinians, but did not give their full names.

The two executed over "collaboration" with Israel were two men born in 1978 and 1968.

The older of the two was a resident of Khan Yunis in the south of the blockaded Gaza Strip. He was convicted of supplying Israel in 1991 with "information on men of the resistance, their residence... and the location of rocket launchpads", Hamas said.

The second was condemned for supplying Israel in 2001 with intelligence "that led to the targeting and martyrdom of citizens" by Israeli forces.

The three others executed on Sunday had been convicted of murder, the Hamas statement said.

Hamas has sentenced 13 people to death this year, but Sunday's executions were the first to be carried out since 2017, according to figures compiled by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

The group executed 18 suspected spies in one day, including seven who were shot dead outside a mosque in Gaza city, following an Israeli air strike that killed three senior commanders in August 2014.

With reporting from AFP.