Masked gunmen shot as many as 18 (reports differ) Palestinians in Gaza on Friday. The victims were reportedly accused of collaborating with Israel to reveal the location of Hamas commanders.

The executions were performed in public, presumably to send a message to other would-be informants.

A day earlier, three Hamas commanders were killed by Israel.

The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is no more, and, as the conflict winds on, civilians continue to bear the brunt.

As reported by The New York Times, an Israeli general and spokesman put the onus on civilians in this most-densely populated place on earth to get out of the way of his comrades’ missiles:

“We are currently attacking in the Gaza Strip very powerfully and will continue to do so in the coming hours,” Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, the chief Israeli Army spokesman, said in a television interview on Friday night. “Every citizen in the Gaza Strip who has in proximity to him or his home weaponry, we view him to be a legitimate target,” General Almoz said. “We are asking him to leave the area because those targets are going to be attacked in the coming hours and coming days. We are here. We aren’t going to go anywhere until quiet arrives.”

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer