Eighteen suspected informants were publicly executed by Hamas on Friday as part of a crackdown on Palestinian collaboration with Israel, a day after three of the Islamic organization's leaders were killed from a targeted airstrike.

Hamas militants opened fire on seven men - whose hands were tied and faces covered - lined up along the street in front of the Omari mosque in Palestine Square just as morning prayers ended, according to witness accounts.

Like Us on Facebook

Earlier in the day, 11 Palestinians were killed by firing squad at an abandoned police station in Gaza. Two of those slain were women, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said.

According to Hamas-run website Al-Majd, the crackdown on Israel collaborators has begun. The operation targets people who collaborate with the Israeli government in killing its people and destroying homes.

Hamas claimed those executed had been convicted of collaboration after having gone through proper legal procedures it referred to as "revolutionary military trials." The trials were officiated by legal and security experts, it said.

A conviction notice from the "Palestinian Resistance" was tacked on to the wall where the execution took place, Newsweek reported.

The notice said the collaborators had given the enemy information on the whereabouts of its fighters and their homes, the tunnels, and its artillery storage units, effectively killing a number of fighters.

"Therefore, the ruling of revolutionary justice was handed upon him," it read.

The executions had come a day after three top military Hamas commanders - Mohammed Barhoum, Raed al-Attar and Mohammed Abu Shammala - were killed by an Israeli air strike.

Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu commended the military and its security service, Shin Bet, for the attack that killed the commanders, adding that the operation had required precise intelligence on the whereabouts of the leaders.

Israeli officials said two of the leaders had been key figures in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006. Schalit was held hostage for five years until 2011 when he was swapped for the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees.

On Tuesday, an Israeli air strike had also killed the wife and child of another senior Hamas commander, Mohammed Deif. The militant is considered to be responsible for the network of underground tunnels used to infiltrate Israeli defenses.

Hamas claims Deif was not killed from the attack but his whereabouts remain unknown.

TagsHamas, Gaza, Palestine, Israel, execution, Palestinian Resistance, Mohammed Deif, Gilad Schalit, Palestinian informants