Israel ramps up strikes in Gaza with attack on police

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes have killed about a dozen people in Gaza over the past two days, local health officials said on Wednesday, part of a wider campaign of attacks on the territory by Israel despite a months-old ceasefire with Hamas.

Among the dead were a woman and six police officers killed in an airstrike on a police station in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp, in northern Gaza, on Tuesday, hospital officials said.

In another strike on Wednesday, three members of the same family were killed in central Gaza, while a man died on Tuesday in the bombing of a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south. Israeli forces also shot and killed a child on Tuesday in the Muwasi area, west of the southernmost city of Rafah, according to hospital officials.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes in central and southern Gaza. In a statement addressing the attack in Jabaliya, it claimed that four of the slain police officers were Hamas militants, without providing evidence on how those killed were involved in planning or carrying out attacks.

One of the officers, Col. Mohamad Marwan Salem, was a senior police commander and head of the Jabaliya police station, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.

Hamas, which ruled Gaza for years, maintains an armed wing, as well as civilian police and security services that are overseen by its Interior Ministry. Throughout the war, Israel has targeted local police, including those guarding aid convoys.

Israel’s military has claimed it considers police stations legitimate targets if they’re “being used to advance military activities, or if those present are military operatives involved in advancing terrorist activities.”

It did not say what military activities it believed were taking place at the Jabaliya police station, nor did it provide evidence that attacks were being planned. Hamas says the police force is engaged in maintaining law and order in the territory.

The deaths were the latest among Palestinians in Gaza since a fragile ceasefire deal in October attempted to halt a two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas. While the heaviest fighting has subsided, Israeli forces have continued to carry out strikes and other military operations.

At least 1,123 people have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.

Militants have also carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.

The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed since the ceasefire, Gaza’s Health Ministry said. — Magdy reported from Cairo. Sam Metz contributed reporting from Ramallah, West Bank.