Hamas “Justice” Sentences Alleged Drug Dealers to Death

The Hamas rulers over the Gaza Strip have, for the first time, pronounced death sentences for crimes other than collaborating with Israel. On Sunday, two prisoners received capital sentences for drug dealing: one to be hanged and one to be executed by a firing squad. Officials say the ease with which artificial opiates can be obtained in Gaza is causing a crisis in addiction inside the enclave. A statement from the interior ministry accuses Israel of seeking to accomplish through drugs what it has “failed to achieve through war and siege.”