CAIRO, GAZA: Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including two members of the Hamas-run police force, health officials said, in violence that underscored the fragility of a US-brokered ceasefire.
Medics said an airstrike killed one person in the Maghazi refugee camp, while another killed the head of the criminal police force in Khan Younis, Wessam Abdel-Hadi, and his aide, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Reuters has previously reported that Israel has heightened its attacks on Gaza’s police force, which the militant group has used to re-establish governance in areas under its control.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on either incident.
The blast that killed the two police officers left only a mangled metal skeleton where their car had stood in the Al-Amal neighborhood of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
The men’s white-shrouded bodies were carried on shoulders through the streets during the funeral.
One of the mourners, Ali Mousa, condemned Israel’s killing of members of the enclave’s police force.
“Although the ceasefire came into effect several months ago, the occupation continues to target the police officers to cause chaos among the people of the same nation,” Mousa told Reuters.
“The occupation aims to create chaos and confusion within the Gaza Strip. This is its sole objective,” he added.
Violence in Gaza has persisted despite an October 2025 ceasefire, with Israel conducting almost daily attacks.
At least 850 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire took effect, local medics say. Injuries have totaled 2,437, in addition to 770 cases of bodies recovered from under the rubble.
The death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 2023 has risen to 72,737, with 172,539 others injured, according to medical sources.
Local health authorities reported on Sunday that hospitals in the Gaza Strip received one killed person and four injured people over the past 24 hours as a result of the ongoing Israeli offensive.
They said a number of victims remain trapped under rubble and in the streets, as emergency and civil defense teams are unable to reach them due to continued conditions on the ground.
