Public Executions in Gaza City Captured on Video Amid Ongoing Conflict

Published: 23 September 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online

Graphic footage circulating from Gaza City has captured the public execution of three men accused of collaborating with Israel, highlighting the escalating violence and lawlessness in the region amid the ongoing Israeli offensive. The videos show a crowd gathered in the street outside Shifa Hospital, cheering as the men are pushed to the ground and shot multiple times in the back of the head. Following the shootings, the assembled crowd can be heard praising Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades.

A Palestinian security official affiliated with the Hamas-led Gaza government told Reuters that the executions were carried out by the “Joint Operations Room of the Palestinian resistance.” The public nature of these killings is unusual, as such executions are rarely captured on video, though there have been prior reports of Hamas violently targeting dissenters. In May, for instance, Hamas-led groups reportedly executed four Palestinians accused of looting aid trucks.

In the latest footage, one armed man singles out Yasser Abu Shabab, labeling him a “major collaborator” targeted for execution. Abu Shabab is a prominent figure in a clan allegedly armed by the Israeli government, operating in Rafah within areas under Israeli military control. The group has presented itself as a counterforce to Hamas. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed in July that Israel was providing support to anti-Hamas clans in Gaza, Abu Shabab publicly denied that Israel had supplied his group with weapons.

A senior Hamas security officer speaking to the BBC in the same month said that armed clans were increasingly filling gaps in control across Gaza as Hamas lost some of its authority over the Strip. Reuters has reported that Abu Shabab’s group has been actively recruiting members through social media. Sources close to Hamas indicated that other anti-Hamas factions have also emerged in northern Gaza and near Khan Younis in the south.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have continued operations within Gaza City, a major urban area of approximately one million residents that has been a focal point of the Israeli ground offensive. The Israeli military claimed that its troops have “dismantled military infrastructure used by Hamas” and eliminated a Hamas cell responsible for attacking Israeli soldiers, injuring one officer. Israel has stated that its objectives remain freeing hostages held by Hamas and defeating up to 3,000 fighters in what it describes as the group’s “main stronghold.”

The offensive has drawn widespread international condemnation. The UN humanitarian office reported last week that while many Palestinians are fleeing south, hundreds of thousands remain trapped in Gaza City, with conditions described as “cataclysmic.”

The current military escalation traces back to Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed roughly 1,200 people and led to 251 hostages being taken. Since then, over 65,000 Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israeli strikes, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The verified footage of the executions shows at least five armed and masked men, with three blindfolded Palestinians kneeling before them in the street outside Shifa Hospital. One of the armed men is heard stating, “The death sentence has been decided for all collaborators,” underscoring the brutal reality of extrajudicial justice unfolding amid the broader conflict.

These public executions highlight not only the internal strife and fragmentation within Gaza but also the heightened tensions and humanitarian crisis fueled by ongoing military operations. As international observers continue to monitor the situation, the risk to civilians remains immense, and the legality and morality of such acts remain sharply contested on the global stage.