Hamas-led gunmen in Gaza have executed 18 Palestinians accused of helping the Israelis.
Hooded and bound, seven of them were shot dead in front of worshippers outside a mosque in one of Gaza’s main squares, following Friday prayers.
Television footage showed a crowd of young boys gathered where the executions took place moments afterwards, with blood still running on the street and bullet casings scattered around.
Those deaths followed the killing of 11 alleged informers at an abandoned police station outside Gaza City, marking the third time this month that Hamas-led operatives have executed people suspected of providing intelligence to Israel.
The latest crackdown follows an Israeli air strike that killed three senior Hamas commanders.
Condemning those executed as spies providing intelligence to Israel, local man Mahmoud al-Ruz said: “The Jews don’t know there are resistance fighters here. The collaborators tell them.”
Israel continues to pound Gaza, with the last ceasefire which collapsed on Tuesday, now a distant memory.
As the Palestinian death toll rises – officials say more than 2,000 mostly civilians have been killed in the six-week war – dozens of rockets were fired into Israel on Friday.
One hit a synagogue in the southern city of Ashdod, injuring three people.
A mortar bomb fired from Gaza killed a four-year-old boy in a village along the border, the first Israeli child to die in the conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying Israel’s military operation would intensify and that Hamas would “pay a heavy price” for the attack.
Shortly after his remarks, Palestinian officials said Israel had flattened a house in a Gaza City air strike, wounding at least 40 people.
