The son of a Hamas leader who spied on the powerful Palestinian movement for Israel, called on Thursday (November 30) for the death penalty for all Hamas fighters currently held in Israeli prisons.

In a Zoom interview broadcast by the Israeli government, Mosab Hassan Yousef said that the death penalty should apply to all Hamas militants in Israeli custody, including his father Sheikh Hassan Yousef.

"Any harm that happens to the hostages, Israel must execute top Hamas leaders with no exceptions. There are hundreds of them, in the Israeli hands, this is the only language that Hamas can understand.

"When I say top Hamas leaders, that includes Sheikh Hassan Yousef. No exception. He cannot just incite for violence, send in people to die, gambling with children's blood for his ideology and his political aspirations," said Yousef.

Yousef secretly converted to Christianity and helped the Shin Bet security service in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Hamas waged suicide bomb campaigns against Israel. He was codenamed "Green Prince" after the Islamist color and the fact that his father, Hassan Yousef, led Hamas in the West Bank.

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(Production: Vanessa Romeo)