Israeli Airstrike Kills Seven at Gaza Police Post Amid Ceasefire Violations
An Israeli air strike on a police post in northern Gaza has killed at least seven people, including a senior officer and a woman, according to Palestinian health and police officials. The post is operated by the Hamas-run police force in the Gaza Strip.
Witnesses reported that an Israeli drone fired four missiles at the post near a busy market in the Jabalia area. The Hamas-run interior ministry condemned the attack as a 'massacre' and identified the slain senior officer as Colonel Mohammed Marwan Salem, head of the local police station.
The Israeli military, however, stated that Marwan was the head of military security for Hamas's Central Jabalia Battalion and that three other 'terrorists' were also killed. It identified them as Abdul Malik al-Jabin, Ghassan al-Daqas, and Yaman Abu Obeida, noting that the first two were police officers.
The casualties were taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. Mohammed Moussa, uncle of another deceased police officer, insisted his nephew was a civilian. 'He was on duty - part of the civilian police force - patrolling the Fallujah roundabout in a civilian vehicle when he was targeted by surveillance aircraft,' Moussa told Reuters. 'I want to understand: what was the purpose of targeting him?'
Separately, Israeli fire killed two more people in southern Gaza on Tuesday. An air strike in the Khan Younis area killed a man and injured three others, medics said. The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas operative. In Rafah, a 10-year-old boy named Muataz Abu Shaar was killed by Israeli gunfire, according to medics. His aunt, Suzan Abu Shaar, said he had been 'sitting in his tent, getting changed.' She added, 'Wherever we go, there is no safety. We want them to stop these massacres. We want them to stop the war.' The Israeli military has not commented on the Rafah incident.
Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of near-daily violations of the ceasefire that took effect in October. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reports that at least 1,110 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed in Palestinian attacks. The war was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,230 people, according to the territory's health ministry.
