An Israeli airstrike on a Hamas-run police post in the Gaza Strip killed at least seven people, including a senior officer and a woman, health and police officials said.
Witnesses told the BBC that an Israeli drone fired four missiles at a guard post near a busy market in the Jabalia district of northern Gaza.
The Palestinian territory’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry said local police chief Colonel Mohammed Marwan Salem and several other police officers were killed in the incident, condemning it as a massacre.
The Israeli military said Marwan was the head of military security for Hamas’ Central Jabaria Battalion and that three other ‘terrorists’ were killed with him.
They were identified as Abdul Malik al-Jabin, Ghassan al-Daqas and Yaman Abu Obeida, with the first two said to be police officers.
The casualties were taken to Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the uncle of another dead police officer claimed he was a civilian.
“He was a member of the civilian police and was patrolling the Fallujah roundabout in a civilian vehicle when he was targeted by a surveillance aircraft,” Mohamed Musa told Reuters.
“I want to understand: What was your purpose in targeting him?” he asked.
Two other people were reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.
One person was killed and three others were wounded in an airstrike in the Khan Younis district, a medic told Reuters. Israeli forces said they had attacked Hamas operatives.
In nearby Rafah, a 10-year-old boy named Muataz Abu Shaar was shot dead by Israeli forces, according to medical officials.
The boy’s aunt, Suzan Abu Shaar, said the boy was “sitting in the tent and changing his clothes.”
“He was her (his mother’s) supporter. What should she do? May God grant her and her heart patience,” she said. “There is no safety wherever you go. We want them to stop the slaughter. We want them to stop the war.”
The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incident.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of almost daily violations of the ceasefire that went into effect in October in the Palestinian territories.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry later said at least 1,110 people had been killed in Israeli gunfire, while the Israeli military said four soldiers had been killed in Palestinian attacks.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
Israel responded by launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 73,230 people, according to the Gaza Strip’s Health Ministry.
