A Gazan family said on Friday that it had killed one of its own sons, claiming he had helped Israel track down and kill three senior Hamas terrorists, including one of the man’s own kinsmen.
In a statement reported by Al-monitor, the family of Ahmed Barhoum said it had shot him in the city of Rafah on 19 January after they were told by Hamas that he had provided information to Israel.
The family said in the statement, “We, the family, will gladly punish [Ahmed] to avenge the heroic martyrs and honor the rights of their families.”
“The family followed the investigation from the moment Ahmed was arrested by Palestinian security forces. We have listened to his confession and examined the tools he used to communicate with the Israeli enemy.”
The family said, “We advise all families who find themselves in the same position as we have to cooperate with the resistance forces.”
No Hamas leader would comment to Al-Monitor, but the movement did praise the execution in a statement published by Hamas-affiliated Al-Resalah on Jan. 19: “The Islamic resistance movement Hamas in Rafah appreciates the measures this family of martyrs and mujahedeen, the Barhoum family, has taken to punish Ahmed for his crimes.”
According to Arutz Sheva, Israel killed the three Hamas’ senior commanders—Rafah Division commander Raed al-Attar, Southern Division commander Mohammed Abu Shmallah and Rafah Division senior commander Mohammed Barhoum—in an air strike in August of 2014.
The targeted killing was a joint operation of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the IDF.
While it is unusual to hear of a family executing their own member over alleged “collaboration” with Israel, it is not unusual that such “spies” are executed in Gaza.
Hamas regularly claims to have captured “Israeli spies”, and many times it tries them and sentences them to death.
In theory all execution orders in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) territories must be approved by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in Ramallah and who imposed a moratorium on executions several years ago.
Hamas no longer recognises Abbas’s legitimacy, and has in the past emphatically declared that the death penalty in Gaza can be carried out without his consent.
Source: Arutz Sheva / Al-Monitor
