Group: Hamas killed 32 'collaborators'

GAZA, April 20 (UPI) -- At least 32 Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel were killed and others tortured by Hamas militants in recent months, Human Rights Watch says.

The killings have come in the wake of Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" military incursion into Gaza earlier this year, the group said in a report released Monday.

Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa division, called on Hamas to end the killing and maiming of suspected Israeli collaborators.

"During Israel's attack on Gaza, Hamas moved violently against its political opponents and those deemed collaborators with Israeli forces," he said. "The unlawful arrests, torture, and killings in detention continued even after the fighting stopped, mocking Hamas's claims to uphold the law."

HRW says it has documented a pattern of arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, maimings by shooting, and extrajudicial executions by alleged members of Hamas security forces in Gaza since December 2008. The group said the report is based on interviews with victims and witnesses and case reports by Palestinian human rights groups.