Gaza’s Hamas rulers execute three men convicted of murder
INDIA
17 killed in fire at army ammunitions depot
A fire broke out at a major ammunitions depot in western India on Tuesday, killing at least 17 army personnel, the Defence Ministry said.
At least 19 other people were injured in the blaze, said ministry spokesman Nitin Wakanker.
The fire at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot started before dawn, said an official at the local police station, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media. Wakanker said that attempts to control the fire were still underway late Tuesday afternoon.
New Delhi Television reported that about 1,000 villagers had been evacuated from around the area. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Devendra Fadnavis, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, where the depot is located, told reporters that the fire had caused a “massive loss of life and property.”
Fadnavis said that the state government was making “every resource” available to the army to help it control the situation, and was ensuring that all local hospitals were equipped to deal with the injured who were being brought in.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was “pained by loss of lives” in the fire and added that he had asked the defense minister to visit the site.
The Pulgaon ammunition depot, one of India’s largest, is located in Maharastra state’s Wardha district. Gaza’s Hamas rulers executed three Palestinians convicted of murder on Tuesday, sparking criticism from human rights groups and defying an agreement with the rival Palestinian Fatah faction.
The executions, which were carried out without the required approval of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, marked the first time the Islamic militant group applied the death penalty since a Hamas-Fatah unity government was formed in 2014.
Hamas violently routed Abbas’ Fatah forces from Gaza in 2007 and the factions have since unsuccessfully tried to reconcile.
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawasmi said the executions without Abbas’ approval were “a crime, a clear violation of the law and a deepening of the split. It’s a clear message from Hamas that it doesn’t want national unity and it doesn’t care about Palestinian law.”
The 2014 unity government deal was never implemented. Hamas remains the de facto authority in Gaza, preventing the government from extending control over the coastal strip.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry said the executions took place at the central prison after the victims’ families rejected the possibility of a last-minute pardon. Two men were hanged and the third was killed by firing squad.
International and local rights group had urged Hamas not to carry out the executions.
“No one should be put to death, certainly not as part of a legal system in which torture and coercion are common,” said Sari Bashi from Human Rights Watch. She said Hamas was using the death penalty as a deterrent against a wave of crime in the Gaza Strip rather than addressing the issues that have led to that crime.
During the 2014 war with Israel, Hamas extra-judicially killed 23 Palestinians suspected of spying for Israel.
With Tuesday’s executions, Hamas has executed 22 convicted of murder or collaboration since 2007.