**The Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip have confirmed that two Palestinian men have been executed for collaborating with Israel.**The Islamist movement did not say how the executions were carried out, but one Palestinian rights group said they had been killed by firing squad.
The mens’ bodies were taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City overnight.
This is the first time Hamas has implemented the death penalty since it took power of Gaza in June 2007.
Hamas’ Interior Minister Fathi Hammad said last month that they intended to implement the death penalty for people found guilty of working with Israel.
The two executed men were convicted of treason and spying for Israel in February last year. They have been named as Naser Abu Furaih and Mohamad al-Sabaa.
Technically, nobody can be executed in the Palestinian territories without the approval of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But Hamas does not recognise Mr Abbas’s authority, Jon Donnison, the BBC correspondent in Gaza, says.
This is a further sign of tensions between the Islamist group and Mr Abbas’s secular party which runs the West Bank, he adds.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.