Israeli Airstrikes Claim Lives of 40, Including Hamas Police Chief, in Escalating Gaza Conflict

Over 40 Palestinians have died in 15 Israeli air raids across the Gaza Strip, as per the territory’s Hamas-managed Civil Defence service.

The head of Gaza’s police and his deputy were included among the 11 fatalities in a night assault on a tent camp for displaced families in the southern al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone,” the report indicated.

The Hamas-run interior ministry decried what it termed the “assassination” of Mahmoud Salah and Hussam Shahwan, asserting that they had been “fulfilling their humanitarian and national obligations.”

The Israeli military acknowledged that it executed a strike targeting Shahwan, who it claimed was a “terrorist” assisting Hamas’s military branch in orchestrating attacks against Israeli forces.

Reports indicate that six individuals lost their lives in an Israeli bombing nearby later on Thursday, alongside further fatal strikes occurring in central and southern Gaza.

Additionally, the Israeli military reported intercepting a rocket launched from southern Gaza.

The Gaza interior ministry accused Israel of “inciting chaos” and “intensifying human misery” in the territory by killing Salah and Shahwan, asserting that the police was a “civilian protection agency” providing services to Palestinians.

Lawlessness in Gaza has escalated since Israel started targeting police officers last year, pointing to their involvement in Hamas governance.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed that the police force had “conducted brutal interrogations of the Gazan populace, violating human rights and suppressing dissent.”

“Hassam Shahwan was accountable for forming intelligence assessments in coordination with units of Hamas’s military wing in assaults on the IDF in the Gaza Strip,” it alleged, neglecting to mention Salah.

Furthermore, the military stated it had taken “multiple precautions” to reduce the risk of civilian casualties before the strike on al-Mawasi.

Among the nine other casualties were three brothers aged seven, 11, and 13.

Ahmed, Mohammed, and Abdul Rahman al-Bardawil were struck by shrapnel while they were asleep in their family tent, their father Walid reported.

“I awoke to the blast. I called out to my three sleeping sons, but no one responded. They were martyred instantly,” he recounted to AFP news agency.

Footage on social media depicted the bodies of the boys being moved to a local hospital by a tuk-tuk, alongside their blood-soaked mattresses inside a damaged tent.

Aida Zanoun, residing in a nearby tent, reported hearing an Apache helicopter gunship flying above at around 01:00 on Thursday (23:00 GMT on Wednesday).

“We then experienced a very powerful [blast]. It felt like the ground shook in the neighborhood. The shrapnel was said to have reached as far as 100m [330ft],” she informed Reuters news agency.

“When dawn broke, we visited the location, and… it was absolute devastation; total annihilation. What crime had the children committed, to be struck?”

The IDF has designated the sandy area along the coast in al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian zone” for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by its 14-month conflict with Hamas.

However, it has consistently carried out assaults on the region, accusing Hamas operatives of sheltering among the civilian population.

Subsequently, an additional six individuals were slain in an Israeli air assault on the Gaza interior ministry’s headquarters in Khan Younis, as reported by medical personnel.

The IDF declared it had executed a strike targeting “Hamas militants who were operating within a command-and-control center that was integrated into the Khan Younis municipality building.”

According to Civil Defence, another 10 individuals had perished in the northern town of Jabalia and four in the southern area of Gaza City on Thursday.

Palestinian media also reported fatal strikes in the west of Gaza City and the adjacent Shati refugee camp, in addition to the central town of Deir al-Balah and the urban Maghazi refugee camp.

In the meantime, the recent cold and damp climate has aggravated the plight in temporary camps for displaced families.

The Hamas-managed Civil Defence agency reported that over 1,500 tents across Gaza have been submerged due to rainfall and sewage since Tuesday.

“Upon waking up… we were astonished to discover our tent had been flooded by rain, leaving us surrounded by sewage,” Moataz Abu Hatab conveyed to BBC Arabic’s Gaza Today program.

“Everything we owned – our mattresses, blankets, and clothing – has been lost. All the items we had managed to acquire or receive during the conflict are now gone, and we are left with nothing.”

Israel initiated a campaign to eliminate Hamas following the group’s unprecedented assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which resulted in approximately 1,200 fatalities and 251 individuals taken hostage.

According to the health ministry controlled by Hamas, more than 45,580 individuals have been killed in Gaza since that time.