Hamas authorities have been burning piles of narcotics and cannabis in a yearly sweep against drugs in the Gaza Strip.
Officers in military fatigues on Monday doused more than 1 million tablets of opioid painkiller Tramadol, about 1,500 slabs of hashish and 900 grams of opium with gasoline and set the drugs on fire.
Under a decade-long Israeli-Egyptian blockade, imposed in 2007 after Hamas violently seized control over the Gaza Strip, authorities say drug use has ballooned among Gaza's 2 million residents as people look for an escape from harsh living conditions, soaring unemployment and strict travel restrictions.
Hamas says it is fighting the epidemic relentlessly. On Monday, it sentenced 17 individuals to hard labor prison terms, ranging from 10 years to life, after they were convicted of drug trafficking.
Last year, Hamas legislators endorsed the death penalty to curb the distribution of drugs.
