Hamas executions feared as evidence emerges of Gaza murders

Friday, January 30: A string of murders in the Gaza Strip has left dozens of Gazans dead even while the two fragile ceasefires prevent the war from continuing. The Guardian reports that among the dead are Palestinians suspected of collaborating with the Israeli forces, security officials from Fatah – Hamas's rival Islamist organisation - and criminals who escaped when the IDF bombed Gaza's main prison.

Human rights workers estimate that as many as 50 people may have been executed in reprisal attacks but it is not yet clear whether the killings are part of an organised campaign by Hamas. "We don't know who's doing the killing," said one human rights activist working in Gaza. "Some are individuals, some might be from Hamas. It's been happening over several days, all across Gaza. It's not all necessarily Hamas actions against Fatah."

Hamas has denied killing any citizens suspected of collaborating with the IDF. However, a spokesman for the Islamist group in control of Gaza said: "The internal security service was instructed to track collaborators and hit them hard."

The Guardian reports that Hamas militants deliberately attacked one former Fatah intelligence officer still living in Gaza but no longer working since Hamas took control of the region. The man's sister said: "They asked him to put his hands up. They fired one shot into his left knee. He fell to the floor and started screaming and saying: 'I didn't do anything'."

Meanwhile it was reported last night that more than 25 aid trucks are stranded on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. Israel refuses to let the trucks into Gaza since it tightened control of the border crossings following the fatal bombing of an Israeli convoy on Tuesday. Although Israel says that it is letting in as many relief convoys as Gaza can absorb, the UN's top official in the region, John Ging, has said that not enough aid is reaching the war-torn region.

"There are thousands of tons of assistance generously donated, sitting in Egypt, Jordan and also in the ports in Israel," said Ging. "That aid should be right here, right now, helping the people who need it."

The situation raises questions over whether or not the $613m of aid the UN has appealed for on behalf of Gaza will be of any use unless Israel allows the border crossings to be fully opened so that convoys can get into the costal enclave.

LAST UPDATED 3:24 PM, JANUARY 30, 2009