Palestine: Hamas must stamp out extrajudicial executions and ensure justice for victims
Authorities and forces affiliated with Hamas in the occupied Gaza
Strip must put an end to extrajudicial executions of suspected
collaborators with Israel, carried out in the absence of any judicial
proceedings, Amnesty International said today. Last month alone,
security officials in Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades,
publicly announced the summary execution of one man for collaborating
with Israel and their intention to execute another “informant” within
days within the context of what they called a large-scale security
campaign.
A June 2026 UN report identified 249 cases of extrajudicial
executions and severe physical violence in Gaza between August 2024 and
early 2026, at least 60 of which involved Hamas-affiliated forces. Amnesty
International has investigated and documented nine extrajudicial
executions and unlawful killings by Hamas-affiliated forces committed in
the immediate aftermath of the announced ceasefire between Israel and
Hamas in October 2025.
While Hamas officials have said that they have opened preliminary
internal investigations into the incidents, to Amnesty International’s
knowledge none of those responsible for the killings have been held to
account to date. In recent weeks, the collapse of law and order in Gaza,
and the extreme state of deprivation caused by Israel’s ongoing
genocide, has fuelled social tensions including infighting among
families.
“Nearly three years into Israel’s ongoing genocide against
Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, the traumatized civilian
population has already endured unimaginable suffering and cannot be
subjected to further killings, abuses and cruelty. The Hamas authorities
must immediately halt all unlawful killings, acts of vigilantism and
arbitrary arrests. Restoring law and order must never serve as a cover
to commit grave human rights violations, carry out reprisals, or to
collectively punish entire families,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty
International’s Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and
Campaigns.
“Those responsible for ordering and carrying out extrajudicial
executions as well as arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment
must be held accountable. Despite its announcement of the dissolution
of the governing committee that administers Gaza, Hamas remains fully
responsible for preventing serious violations by its agencies and
individuals under its control, including Al-Qassam Brigades and the
‘Resistance Security System’. The new leadership of the political bureau
of Hamas must break with the long-standing impunity for abuses
committed by its forces and its affiliates and take urgent, concrete
steps to ensure truth and justice for victims and their families.”
An unidentified high-ranking member of the “Resistance Security
System,” a secret security and intelligence group operating under the
auspices of the military wings of Hamas and other Palestinian armed
groups, also announced on the group’s official platform on Telegram,
Al-Hares, that the 1 July extrajudicial execution was the beginning of a
“large-scale security campaign” and that the “upcoming few days will
witness the executions of others implicated with collaboration with the
occupation.”
Since the beginning of the genocide, Palestinian human rights groups, including Al Mezan and the Independent Commission for Human rights,
have repeatedly condemned extrajudicial executions and other unlawful
killings in Gaza, including those carried out by unidentified armed
groups, and have called on the authorities to investigate those
responsible and ensure accountability.
A recent report by
the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, identified
249 cases of extrajudicial executions and severe physical violence in
Gaza between August 2024 and January 2026, resulting in at least 108
deaths. At least 60 of these cases involved Hamas-affiliated forces.
Some of these executions were carried out in public and filmed and
announced on pages affiliated with Hamas, mainly on Telegram channels.
For example, on 21 September 2025, during the height of Israel’s mass
forced displacement campaign in Gaza City, a group describing itself as
the “Joint Operations Room for the Resistance” claimed responsibility for the public execution in a street in Gaza City of three men accused of collaborating with Israel.
For this investigation, Amnesty International has documented nine
extrajudicial executions and one unlawful killing, with all but one of
these incidents taking place in the immediate aftermath of the so-called
ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025. The evidence
reveals how in October 2025 Hamas and its affiliated forces carried out
public, summary executions of eight members of the Dughmush family from
the Al-Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City, after accusing them of
collaborating with Israel. It also documented another execution on 1
July 2026.
The organization also documented the unlawful killing of a man in
October 2025 during an apparent arrest operation in Al-Bureij refugee
camp near Salaheddine street by masked armed gunmen.
Amnesty International verified photos and videos, gathered
testimonies from 11 family members of people killed and two health
workers, and analysed statements by Hamas authorities and Telegram
accounts of its military wing and affiliated armed groups.... READ MORE https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/08/palestine-hamas-must-stamp-out-extrajudicial-executions-and-ensure-justice-for-victims/
