DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Approximately a dozen people have lost their lives in Gaza over the course of just two days as a result of Israeli airstrikes, local health officials reported Wednesday. The attacks are part of a continuing Israeli military campaign in the territory, even as a ceasefire agreement with Hamas has been in place for several months.
Among those killed was a woman and six police officers who died when an Israeli airstrike struck a police station in the heavily populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Tuesday, according to hospital officials.
Additional strikes claimed more lives on Wednesday, when three members of the same family were killed in central Gaza. A man was also killed the previous day when a tent camp in the southern city of Khan Younis was bombed. Israeli forces additionally shot and killed a child on Tuesday in the Muwasi area, located west of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, hospital officials confirmed.
The Israeli military offered no immediate response regarding the strikes in central and southern Gaza. However, in a statement focused on the Jabaliya attack, the military claimed that four of the police officers killed were Hamas militants, though it did not offer any evidence showing how those individuals were connected to planning or executing any attacks.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry identified one of the slain officers as Col. Mohamad Marwan Salem, a senior police commander who served as head of the Jabaliya police station.
Hamas, which has governed Gaza for years, operates both an armed military wing and civilian police and security forces under the supervision of its Interior Ministry. Throughout the ongoing conflict, Israel has repeatedly targeted local police, including officers assigned to protect humanitarian aid convoys.
Israel’s military has stated that it views police stations as valid military targets when they are “being used to advance military activities, or if those present are military operatives involved in advancing terrorist activities.” The military did not clarify what specific activities it believed were occurring at the Jabaliya station, nor did it present evidence that any attacks were being organized there. Hamas maintains that its police force exists solely to preserve law and order within the territory.
These latest casualties come amid a fragile ceasefire deal reached in October that was intended to bring an end to a two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas. Although the most intense fighting has decreased, Israeli forces have continued to carry out strikes and military operations in the region.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reports that at least 1,123 people have been killed in the territory since the ceasefire went into effect. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed records of casualties that United Nations agencies and independent experts generally consider to be reliable. The ministry does not separate its counts between civilians and combatants.
Palestinian militants have also launched shooting attacks against Israeli troops, and Israel says its strikes are a direct response to those incidents and other violations of the ceasefire. Five Israeli soldiers have died since the ceasefire began.
The conflict traces back to the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in 251 individuals being taken hostage. Israel’s military response in Gaza has since killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed after the ceasefire took hold, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
