Hamas fighters publicly executed several men accused of collaborating with Israel in Gaza on Monday, hours after signing a U.S.-brokered peace agreement with Israel that was intended to mark the end of two years of war, according to footage verified by multiple media outlets and statements from both sides.
Video shared online showed seven to eight men, blindfolded and on their knees, shot at close range in a Gaza City street by armed Hamas militants as onlookers cheered. Hamas said the men were "criminals and collaborators with Israel," though it provided no evidence to support the claim. A Hamas source confirmed to Reuters that the video was authentic and filmed on Monday.
The executions came as part of a sweeping crackdown that followed the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the group's effort to reassert authority across Gaza. "It's a massacre. They're dragging people away, children are screaming and dying, they're burning our houses. What did we do wrong?" a woman from Gaza's Dagmoush clan told Israel's Ynet News, after at least 52 members of her family were reportedly killed in clashes with Hamas security forces.
The renewed violence has cast immediate doubt on President Donald Trump's peace plan, announced just a day earlier as a "historic dawn of a new Middle East." Under the deal, Hamas was expected to surrender administrative control of Gaza and disarm in exchange for a phased Israeli withdrawal and the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. But Hamas has so far handed over only four coffins of dead hostages, leaving 23 others presumed dead and one still unaccounted for, Israeli officials said.
Israel, citing the delays, has restricted humanitarian aid into Gaza and postponed the reopening of its border crossing with Egypt. They've been too slow to turn over the bodies of the hostages, one Israeli official said, adding that aid trucks and evacuation plans for the wounded would remain suspended through at least Wednesday.
President Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One earlier Monday, defended Hamas's temporary control of Gaza's internal security under the terms of the truce. "They do want to stop the problems, and they've been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time," he said. "You have close to 2 million people going back to buildings that have been demolished, and a lot of bad things can happen. So we want it to be - we want it to be safe."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has maintained that any permanent peace must include Hamas's disarmament and exclusion from governance, a stance that Hamas has consistently rejected. "The war cannot end until Hamas gives up its weapons and ceases to control Gaza," Netanyahu has said repeatedly.
Hamas officials told Reuters the executions were part of an internal campaign to eliminate "collaborators, armed looters and drug dealers," saying the group would "tolerate no more violations of order." The group, weakened by two years of bombardment, has nevertheless begun rebuilding its operations, deploying workers to clear debris from major roads and repair water infrastructure to facilitate the eventual return of aid convoys.
Local health authorities in Gaza reported that Israeli drone fire killed five people east of Gaza City on Tuesday, and an additional airstrike near Khan Younis left one dead and another injured. Israel's military said it fired on individuals who "crossed truce lines and approached its forces after ignoring calls to turn back."
