Hamas gunmen execute six ‘Israeli spies’ as Netanyahu hints at cease-fire
Associated Press | Nov 20, 2012 11:08 AM ET | Last Updated: Nov 20, 2012 11:21 AM ET
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REUTERS/Suhaib Salem Palestinian
gunmen ride motorcycles as they drag the body of a man, who
was
suspected of working for Israel, in Gaza City November 20, 2012.
The Hamas military wing claimed responsibility.
Witnesses said the six men were pulled out of a van Tuesday, forced to lie face down on the street and then shot dead.
Five bodies lay in a pile as a mob stomped and spit on them. A sixth body was tied to a motorcycle and dragged through the streets as people screamed, “Spy! Spy!”
Hamas posted a sign on an electricity pole, naming the six alleged informers.
Israel relies on a network of local informants to identify its targets.
The killings came during a nearly week-long Israeli military offensive that has killed more than 120 people, both militants and civilians, including three Israelis.
Mediators believe a cease-fire may be at hand, but it remains to be seen if these gruesome public murders will complicate the truce process.
Israel’s prime minister says Israel would be a “willing partner” in a cease-fire with Gaza’s ruling militant group Hamas.
Netanyahu made the pronouncement Tuesday at a meeting with UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region as part of an international diplomatic push to end nearly a week of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Netanyahu says that “if a long-term solution can be put in place by diplomatic means, Israel will be a willing partner.”
Israel launched the offensive last week to end months of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
Ban has condemned the rocket attacks but urged Israel to show “maximum restraint.” He also has offered his services to help broker a truce.
Egypt’s president predicted earlier today that the operation in the Gaza Strip would end within hours, as diplomats from across the world raced across the region to negotiate a cease-fire to end relentless Israeli airstrikes and Palestinian rocket attacks.
Mohammed Morsi, perhaps the most important interlocutor between the militant Hamas group that rules the Palestinian territory and the Israelis, gave no explanation for his statement, saying only that the negotiations between the two sides will yield “positive results” during the coming hours.
President Barack Obama also dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Mideast from Cambodia, where she had accompanied Obama on a visit.
Hours before Morsi spoke, a man identified as Hamas’ militant commander urged his fighters to keep up attacks on Israel, and Palestinian militants fired a rocket toward Jerusalem, just minutes before Ban arrived in the holy city. Israeli airstrikes killed a senior militant and five others in a separate attack on a car, according to Gaza health officials.
“This must stop, immediate steps are needed to avoid further escalation, including a ground operation,” Ban said from Egypt. “Both sides must hold fire immediately … Further escalation of the situation could put the entire region at risk.”
REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Palestinian
gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators in the Gaza
Strip who "were
caught red-handed", according to a security source quoted by the Hamas
Aqsa
radio on Tuesday.
posted by Pieface | 9:31 AM
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