Distressing video footage has emerged from Gaza City, appearing to show the public execution of three Palestinian men. These individuals were accused of collaborating with Israel. BBC Verify has confirmed the location of the incident as a street near Shifa hospital, a region currently at the center of intense Israeli military operations.
The videos, which began circulating on Sunday evening, depict a crowd of onlookers, armed and masked individuals, and three blindfolded Palestinian men kneeling on the ground. One of the armed men is heard in the footage declaring, “The death sentence has been decided for all collaborators.” Following this, the men are pushed to the ground and shot multiple times in the back of the head, with the crowd erupting in cheers and praise for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.
A Palestinian security official, affiliated with the Hamas-run Gaza government, informed Reuters that the executions were carried out by the “Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance.” This incident marks a particularly rare instance where a public execution in Gaza has been captured and shared publicly. Previous reports have indicated Hamas’s use of violence against individuals perceived as dissenters, including an incident in May where Hamas-led groups reportedly executed four Palestinians for looting aid supplies.
In the footage from Sunday, a specific individual, Yasser Abu Shabab, is singled out by name, identified as a “major collaborator” targeted for killing. Abu Shabab leads a clan that has allegedly been armed by the Israeli government and has been active in Rafah, an area under Israeli military control. His group has positioned itself as an opposing force to Hamas. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in July that Israel was arming clans in Gaza opposed to Hamas, Yasser Abu Shabab publicly refuted these claims, stating his group had not received weapons from Israel.
In the same month, a senior officer within Hamas’s security forces communicated to the BBC that Hamas had significantly diminished its control over the Gaza Strip, with armed clans emerging to fill the power vacuum. Reports from Reuters suggest that Abu Shabab’s group has been actively recruiting via social media, with residents and sources close to Hamas indicating that other groups opposing Hamas have also surfaced in northern Gaza and near Khan Younis in the southern part of the territory.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops continue their operations in Gaza City, reportedly dismantling Hamas military infrastructure and engaging with Hamas cells. The Israeli military states its objectives are to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and to dismantle up to 3,000 fighters in what it terms the group’s “main stronghold.” However, the ongoing offensive, particularly in Gaza’s most populated urban area where a famine has been declared, has drawn significant international condemnation.
A UN humanitarian office spokesperson recently described the situation in Gaza City as “cataclysmic” following a visit, noting the continued displacement of civilians despite hundreds of thousands remaining in the city. The Israeli military campaign in Gaza began in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities and 251 hostages taken. Health authorities in Gaza report that at least 65,344 individuals have been killed in Israeli attacks since the conflict began.