Gaza court sentences convicted collaborator to death

A military court in Gaza on Sunday sentenced a man convicted of collaborating with Israel to death by hanging.The suspect has been imprisoned since Aug. 11, 2011.The Hamas government in Gaza announced its latest campaign to crack down on collaboration with Israel earlier in MarchPalestinian collaboration with Israel is an extremely sensitive issue in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with information passed to Israel's security services often being used to make arrests and assassinate political and militant figures.Gaza courts have handed out over 30 death sentences since 2007, many of them to people convicted of helping Israeli security forces.The last high-profile execution of collaborators took place in Gaza during Israel's assault on the coastal territory last November.Gunmen shot dead six alleged collaborators and chained the body of one of them to a motorcycle before dragging it throughout the main streets of Gaza City.A Ma'an review of publicly available records as well as interviews with experts in Gaza showed that all of the men had been in the custody of the Hamas government for months and in one case years before Israel launched its "Pillar of Cloud" operation, and were not caught "red-handed" as security officials had said at the time.