BICOM

The international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday issued a damning report on the failure of Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip to investigate the public killing of seven men accused of aiding Israeli intelligence agencies.

In November, the men were shot in public and the body of one was dragged through the streets of Gaza by a motorcycle. HRW said that a promised Hamas enquiry into the incident had not materialised and the organisation’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson concluded that “Hamas’s inability or unwillingness to investigate the brazen murders of seven men makes a mockery of its claims that it’s upholding the rule of law in Gaza.” Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after launching a bloody coup against the Fatah faction of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, ending a short-lived Palestinian unity government.

Earlier this week, a Palestinian human rights group accused Hamas police in the Gaza Strip of forcibly shaving the heads of men whose hair is considered ‘un-Islamic.’ Men have reportedly been forcibly detained, shaved and made to sign an agreement to keep their hair short. Hamas’ interior ministry in Gaza denied that its police were involved in such activities and blamed student groups instead. This episode comes after Hamas earlier this month passed new legislation which will outlaw mixed-sex schools in the Gaza Strip and ban men teaching at girls’ schools from the start of the next school year. The new law is set to be applied to private Christian and United Nations schools in Gaza, in addition to Hamas-funded schools.

A poll published this week by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre indicated that support from Hamas among Palestinians had dropped from 28 per cent in December 2012 to just 20 per cent.