Hamas fighters. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas Thursday hanged three men it had accused of collaborating on the recent assassination of terror commander Mazan Faqha in Gaza.

Hamas officials have blamed Israel for coordinating the assassination and have vowed to exact revenge. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement.

In the wake of the terror commander’s assassination, Hamas instituted a crackdown in Gaza, closing the Erez border crossing with Israel and launching an investigation into Faqha’s death. The results of Hamas’s probe have not been published.

“To enforce the rule of law and achieve general deterrence, a number of execution sentences will be carried out against collaborators with the Zionist enemy, who have been convicted of perpetrating criminal acts and providing information [to Israel] that harmed public security,” said Ismail Jaber, Hamas’s self-described attorney general, before Thursday’s executions.

In the past, Hamas has dealt similarly with individuals accused of collaborating with Israel. In 2012, the terror organization executed six suspected collaborators in public and dragged the lifeless bodies of the accused through the streets of Gaza, tied to the back of motorcycles.