PUSHING FOR A CEASE-FIRE: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem last night tell of their discussions aimed at halting the bloodshed. (Getty Images)
Masked Hamas gunmen executed Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel — and at least one victim was dragged through the streets of Gaza City.
The grotesque scene yesterday accompanied some of the worst bloodshed of the weeklong war and came amid frantic efforts to negotiate a truce.
Witnesses said four masked men pulled six suspected informers from a van stopped at a busy intersection in Gaza City’s Sheik Radwan neighborhood.
The assassins ordered the six to lie face down in the street, said witness Salim Mahmoud, 18.
Then the victims were shot one by one.
A street mob quickly gathered around the bodies.
Witnesses said the mob stomped and spit on five of the bodies.
The sixth was tied to a motorcycle by a cable and dragged through the city as people screamed, “Spy!” and “Traitor!”
Gunmen on motorcycles rode along with the body in celebration of the executions.
“They should have been killed in a more brutal fashion so others don’t even think about working with the occupation [Israel],” said 24-year-old Ashraf Maher.
The Hamas military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, claimed responsibility in a large, handwritten note attached to a nearby pole.
Hamas said the six were killed because they gave Israel information about Hamas fighters and rocket-launching sites.
During the last border war, in 2008-2009, Palestinians executed 17 compatriots for suspected collaboration. About a dozen others are still on Hamas’ death row.
The horrific public executions came as at least 33 more Palestinians and two Israelis, including the Jewish state’s first military casualty, an 18-year-old corporal, died in airstrikes and artillery attacks.
Through the day yesterday, Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed that a truce brokered by Egypt would be announced and go into effect by midnight.
“The travesty of Israeli aggression on Gaza will end in a few hours,” Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said at midday.
But Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said final details had not been agreed. “We’re not there yet. The ball’s still in play,” he said.
As rocket fire echoed well past midnight, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is soon to relinquish her post in the Obama administration, interrupted her “farewell” tour of foreign countries and rushed to Israel to confer with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Our hearts break for the loss of every civilian, Israeli and Palestinian,” she said. “I know today was a difficult day and I offer my deepest condolences to the loved ones of the lost and injured.
But after the late-night meeting, she signaled that much negotiation lay ahead. She said she would work with Israel and Egypt on brokering a truce “in the days ahead.”
“The goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians alike,” she said at a news conference with Netanyahu.
Hamas is demanding an end of Israel’s blockade of Gaza checkpoints. Israel wants an end to attacks from Gaza and international guarantees that Hamas will not rearm or team up with jihadists from Egypt’s Sinai region.
“No country would tolerate rocket attacks against its cities and against its civilians. Israel cannot tolerate such attacks,” Netanyahu said with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at his side.
In Brussels, a senior official of the European Union’s foreign service said proposed cease-fire terms would include an end of Israeli airstrikes and targeted killings in Gaza, the opening of Gaza crossing points and an end to rocket attacks on Israel.
Israeli officials said a decision to launch a ground invasion of Gaza was still possible but had been postponed at least one day, pending truce negotiations.
Israeli media said Defense Minister Ehud Barak wants a 24-hour trial cease-fire — to see if Hamas can impose it on its own side — before Israel’s “Operation Pillar of Defense” is relaxed.
As of yesterday, 56,000 Israeli military reservists had been called up for duty.
As the chances for a truce announcement dwindled last night, Israel unleashed more firepower, hitting a Hamas command center, two weapons factories and tunnels used to deliver fuel to the Gaza Strip.
Hamas fired at least 14 rockets into residential areas of Israel yesterday, the largest one-day barrage of the war so far.
A rocket was fired toward Jerusalem, just the second time Hamas has targeted the city that both Israel and the Palestinians claim as their capital. The rocket fell in an open area southeast of the city.
Hamas also fired rockets and mortar shells at Israeli gunboats in the Mediterranean.
CNN said three US Navy warships are steaming toward the eastern Mediterranean in case they need to evacuate American citizens from the region.
With Post Wire Services