By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) - Hamas has executed a number of alleged looters after several incidents in which heavily armed gangs attacked food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip this week, sources close to the Palestinian militant group said.

Hamas officials have accused some of the looters of working in collaboration with Israel, which has sealed off aid from entering Gaza for the past two months. Israel has not commented on the allegation.

In one incident, the Hamas-run interior ministry said a police officer was killed and others were wounded when an Israeli drone fired a missile at a police unit chasing criminals in Gaza City.

"We will strike with an iron fist all these renegades, and we will take the necessary measures to deter them, no matter the cost, and we will not allow them to continue terrorizing citizens, threatening their lives, and stealing their property," the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, referring to the alleged looters.

Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza's Hamas-run government media office, said some of the looters acted under a clan umbrella and others acted as organized groups, some of which he said received direct support from Israel.

He said a number of "revolutionary execution rulings" had been carried out against "several top criminals" proven to have been involved in looting.

Some Gaza residents and Palestinian media said Hamas' armed wing imposed curfews starting at 9 p.m. to restrict the movement of civilians and to chase criminals.

United Nations officials have warned of the increasingly dire humanitarian situation facing Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli campaign launched following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

Israel has defended its blockade against aid entering Gaza, alleging that Hamas steals supplies intended for the civilian population and distributes them to its own forces, an allegation that Hamas denies.

However, the problem has worsened as the blockade has persisted, posing a challenge to Hamas, which has faced irregular protests by people in Gaza angered by shortage of food reaching the enclave.

The incidents underlined the strain facing the Gaza population, which has been increasingly squeezed into areas in central Gaza and along the coast as Israeli forces have created wide buffer zones around the enclave.

GANGS TAKE MONEY, PHONES

"Those gangs, some of them armed, have terrorized people, not only stealing food, but stopping some people on the roads and taking away their money and phones," said Ahmed, from Gaza City, who asked that his full name not be used.

"They aid the occupation in starving us; they must be dealt with as collaborators," he told Reuters via a chat app.

SAFA news agency, close to Hamas, said the interior ministry has formed a new 5,000-member force tasked with confronting looters and armed gangs. However, local police forces have been hampered by attacks from Israeli drones against any armed Palestinians they identify.

Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence shrank sharply since Israel resumed large-scale attacks in March.

Meanwhile, Israeli military strikes killed at least 40 people across the enclave in the past 24 hours, the territory's health ministry said.

Israel's campaign was triggered by the devastating Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken hostage. It has so far killed more than 52,500 Palestinians.

(Reporting and writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Conor Humphries)