As the 60 day period offered by Hamas for collaborators with Israel to give themselves up without consequences, Hamas officials announced that a number of collaborators had given themselves up, and are being “dealt with in closed circles so as not to harm their reputations”.Israeli forces have been documented on a number of occasions trying to force Palestinians to become informants in order to receive needed medical care for themselves or a family member – a type of pressure that is deemed illegal under international law.
It is not known what method was used to recruit the informants that turned themselves in during the 60 days of amnesty offered by Hamas. But the Hamas-led government in Gaza did reveal that at least one of the informants who sought amnesty had been spying on Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
According to Hamas representatives, the informant said he watched the Prime Minister during trips to the beach and when the Prime Minister went jogging, and sent the information to Israeli agents using an Israeli cell phone.
Two months ago, the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority in the besieged Gaza Strip offered amnesty to collaborators for sixty days, promising they would not be harmed or imprisoned if they freely turned themselves in.
In the past, Hamas supporters have been accused of killing collaborators or torturing them during imprisonment.
