Palestinians Afraid to Tell Hamas Fighters to Go Away

In case you didn't make it to the end of the lead story in the New York Times this morning on the Israeli invasion of Gaza:

But in Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, most of the wounded being brought in on Saturday seemed to be civilians.

Salah Abu Rafia, 38, was accompanying wounded relatives, including his 10-year-old son, Zeid. Mr. Abu Rafia said that an F-16 warplane fired missiles around his house in the Zeitoun neighborhood, west of Gaza City, while the family was sitting outside. He said that Hamas fighters had been in the area, but that he had been afraid to tell them to go away. They disappeared as soon as they heard the planes, he said, escaping without injury.

“We are the ones paying the price,” he added.

Hmmm, Hamas fighters had been in the area doing what? Something to do with rockets, perhaps? From what I can tell, the Hamas fighters are using their citizens and their religious sites as cover, as shields. Hamas is the cause of the dead and wounded Palestinian civilians and the damage that occurs to the mosques.