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The Hamas
government on Tuesday morning executed three prisoners convicted of murder. The three men's bodies were transferred to a hospital in Gaza.
The interior ministry in Gaza said in a statement that the three were executed after all the legal proceedings against them were exhausted. Two of the men were sentenced to death for murdering moneychangers in two separate incidents, and the third was sentenced to death for the murder of a Palestinian girl.
This was the second execution in the Strip after two Palestinians convicted of collaborating with Israel were put to death last month.
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The Hamas execution policy has been criticized by human rights organizations, but the Strip's government is aware of the fact that this policy is supported by the Palestinians street.
Ihab Ghussein, an interior ministry spokesman, admitted that the execution policy was the result of the pressure exerted by the victims' families.
Ghussein noted that the execution policy would continue although criminal crimes were not a widespread phenomenon in the Strip. He added that the interior ministry would do all it could to prevent the security anarchy from returning to Gaza's streets.