Hamas tortured, killed Palestinians in 2014 Gaza war, Amnesty

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In this Dec. 14, 2014, file photo, a masked Palestinian gunman of the Hamas militant group holds a weapon during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the group in Gaza City. Amnesty International on Wednesday, May 27, 2015, accused the militant group of abducting, torturing and killing Palestinians during the war in the Gaza Strip summer 2014, saying some of the actions amount to war crimes. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)
In this Dec. 14, 2014, file photo, a masked Palestinian gunman of the Hamas militant group holds a weapon during a rally to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the group in Gaza City. Amnesty International on Wednesday, May 27, 2015, accused the militant group of abducting, torturing and killing Palestinians during the war in the Gaza Strip summer 2014, saying some of the actions amount to war crimes. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra, File)
A leading international watchdog on Wednesday accused the militant Hamas group of abducting, torturing and killing Palestinians during the war in the Gaza Strip last year, saying some of the actions amount to war crimes.

Amnesty International detailed the abuses in a report entitled “Strangling Necks’: Abduction, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict.”

According to the London-based human rights group, some 23 Palestinians were shot and killed and dozens more were arrested and tortured by Hamas, which rules Gaza. The Palestinians targeted were either political rivals of Hamas, including members of the Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, or people the militant group had accused of cooperating with Israel, Amnesty said.

Wednesday’s report highlighted a particularly brutal incident, which it said took place in Gaza on Aug. 22.

“In one of the most shocking incidents, six men were publicly executed by Hamas forces outside al-Omari mosque … in front of hundreds of spectators, including children,” Amnesty said. Hamas had announced the men were suspected “collaborators” who had been sentenced death in “revolutionary courts,” the rights group added.

“The hooded men were dragged along the floor to kneel by a wall facing the crowd, then each man was shot in the head individually before being sprayed with bullets fired from an AK-47,” the report said of the August incident.

Hamas violently seized Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas in 2007, leaving Palestinians bitterly divided — Hamas ruling Gaza and Abbas governing parts of the West Bank. Since then, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel and fought three wars with the Jewish state. Over 2,200 Palestinians were killed during the 50-day war last summer. On the Israeli side, 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

Hamas used the war to “ruthlessly settle scores, carrying out a series of unlawful killings and other grave abuses,” Amnesty’s Philip Luther said. “These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to exact revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip.”

The report said 16 of the people killed by Hamas were already being held by the militant group when the conflict erupted and many of them were waiting to hear the verdict of their Hamas-organized trials. “Many had been sentenced after trials before courts whose proceedings are grossly unfair. A number had said they had been tortured in order to extract ‘confessions,’” the report said.

Amnesty’s report also said that Hamas abducted and tortured people in an outpatient clinic that was no longer in use, within the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, Shifa.

“Hamas forces have displayed a disregard for the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law,” Luther said. “Torture and cruel treatment of detainees in an armed conflict is a war crime. Extrajudicial executions are also war crimes.”

This was not Amnesty’s first report on the 2014 Gaza war.

In March, the group accused Hamas of war crimes for launching unguided rockets and mortars from civilian areas in Gaza toward civilian areas in Israel, saying that was a breach of international law. And in December, Amnesty condemned Israel for flattening four landmark buildings in the final days of the war. Israel dismissed that report, saying Hamas was using the buildings as command centers.

Salah Bardawil, a Hamas official in Gaza, said the incidents mentioned in the report took place ‘outside the framework of the law’ and Hamas was investigating them.

Associated Press/ My Way

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9 responses to “Hamas tortured, killed Palestinians in 2014 Gaza war, Amnesty”

  1. MekensehParty Avatar
    MekensehParty

    HRW must understand that Palestinians killed by Palestinians (or other Arabs) don’t count. Only those killed by Israel become the purest martyrs, the ones dying by Hamas or bashar’s fire are just cocroaches.
    Ask Hind, she’ll explain how dr. Maher convinced her that it all makes sense

    1. Hend Abyad Avatar
      Hend Abyad

      “It’s sad but that’s what Lebanon or any country does to collaborators on the ground payed to guide the targets”.
      Hamas forces carried out a brutal campaign of abductions, torture and
      unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of “collaborating” with
      Israel and others during Israel’s military offensive against Gaza in
      July and August 2014, according to a new report by Amnesty
      International.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        “Hamas was investigating them” … it says … Foxes running a Hen-House.
        Along with results of those investigations, we’d love to read ‘Trial Reports’ … especially of the ones who will be ‘taken care of’ for doing things ‘outside the framework of the law’. In fact, being able to read their ‘Laws’ – especially on humanitarian issues – might be interesting.

        1. Hend Abyad Avatar
          Hend Abyad

          Economist Intelligence Unit (Democracy Index) rating of the Palestinian National Authority compared to Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel[1]

          Country Number (in the rating) Index Category
          Full democracy (1-24), Flawed democracy (25-76), Hybrid regime (77-115), Authoritarian regime (116-167)

          Palestine 1064,72 –Hybrid regime
          Syria 1631,74 — Authoritarian regime
          Jordan 1213,76 –Authoritarian regime
          Egypt 1383,16 –Authoritarian regime
          Israel 367,63 –Flawed democracy

          1. 5thDrawer Avatar
            5thDrawer

            How does Palestine get to be #06, when Canada is #01??? ;-))

          2. Hend Abyad Avatar
            Hend Abyad

            Ex- According to Executive Director of Advancing Human Rights David Keyes, in 2013, Anas Awwad, a 26-year-old Palestinian activist, was sentenced in absentia by a Palestinian court in Nablus, the West Bank, to one year in prison for “extending his tongue” against the Palestinian Authority’s president,

  2. HRW

    Francis of Assisi made a vow of eternal poverty and preached to the birds. But under his successor Franciscan Order became one of the richest and not disinterested institutions in Europe. On the human rights movement by the end of the XX century was the same as with the Franciscan order.

    The
    oldest and well-known human rights organization, Human Rights Watchs,
    was created by Robert Bernstein in 1978, to ensure that USSR
    performs the Helsinki Accords. But in 1992 the Soviet Union collapsed, and HRW is still alive. Moreover, it has only increased; of its budget in the tens of millions of dollars, offices are located in 90 countries.

    A 19 October 2009 there was a huge scandal: the octogenarian founder
    of HRW spoke to The New York Times article in which HRW blamed treason
    and consistent support for the principles of Hamas and “Hezbollah”, when
    constantly biased and unfair treatment of Israel.

    Two reception that HRW uses constant criticism of Israel, it is very simple. The first – a refusal to examine the causes of the conflict. “We do not study the causes of the conflict – says HRW, – we learn how parties to the conflict respect human rights.”

    Great! Imagine that you are – a woman, which was attacked by a maniac in the woods, and you were able to shoot him. From the perspective of human rights defenders from HRW, and you’ll be to blame.

    The position of “we do not study the cause of” deliberately puts the
    aggressor terrorist, have fewer resources, in an advantageous position
    in comparison with the state, which is responsible for the terror.

    The second method is even simpler – a distortion, omission and lies. Thus,
    in the 2007 report, HRW said that “Hezbollah” not in the habit “to use
    the population as human shields,” and at the same time stated that it
    has evidence that the Israeli army “did deliberately targeted the
    civilian population.” When
    in 2002 an epidemic of Palestinian suicide bombings peaked, HRW
    published press releases on human rights violations by Israel. HRW took another 5 months to issue a report on suicide bombers, and 5 years to release a report on attacks on Israel from Gaza.

    In 2009, HRW went to Saudi Arabia, where he collected money for anti-Israel statements. The matter of human rights in Saudi Arabia the situation is somewhat worse than in Israel. In addition, Saudi Arabia is the largest state sponsor of terrorism. But HRW is not confused.

    This
    same position is HRW in Sri Lanka, where government forces are fighting
    against the “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam”, the most severe
    terrorist organization that killed tens of thousands of people and using
    Tamils ​​as human shields. Any attempt to attack government troops immediately HRW claims that government forces inflict strikes on civilians (Protecting the rights of the cannibal, or liberal fundamentalism)
    http://www.novayagazeta.ru/society/6563.html

    1. Hend Abyad Avatar
      Hend Abyad

      Thank you for the entertainment
      Hamas took collaborators to stand trial in 2007.. not this time, selling their own peoples lives like Judah. Sharif quoted one of the gunmen as saying the seven “had sold their
      souls to the enemy for a cheap price” and had caused killing and
      destruction. http://jfjfp.com/?p=64052

      1. Thank you for reading my comment

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