Hamas police chief among 40 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza
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Israel strikes densely populated areas, says Hamas militants hiding among displaced civilians
More than 40 Palestinians have been killed in 15 Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run territory's civil defense service.
The Gaza police chief and his deputy were among 11 killed in a nighttime attack on a tent camp for displaced families in the "humanitarian zone" south of al-Mawasi.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry condemned what it called the "assassination" of Mahmoud Salah and Hussam Shahwan, who it said were "fulfilling their humanitarian and national duty."
The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out a strike against Shahwan, whom it accused of being a "terrorist" who had helped Hamas' military wing plan attacks against Israeli forces.
Six people were killed in an Israeli airstrike nearby on Thursday, and other deadly attacks took place elsewhere in central and southern Gaza. The Israeli military also said it had intercepted a rocket fired from southern Gaza.
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The Gaza Interior Ministry accused Israel of "sowing chaos" and "exacerbating human suffering" in the territory by killing Salah and Shahwan. It insisted the police were a "civil defense agency" providing services to Palestinians.
Last year, Israel began targeting police officers, citing their role in the Hamas government.
The Israeli military said police forces had "carried out violent interrogations of the Gaza population, violating human rights and suppressing dissent." "Hassam Shahwan was responsible for developing intelligence assessments in coordination with elements of Hamas' military wing during attacks against the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip," it said, without mentioning Salah.
The military also said it had taken "numerous measures" to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians before the attack on al-Mawasi.
Three brothers, aged seven, eleven and thirteen, were among the nine others killed.
Ahmed, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman al-Bardavil were hit by shells while sleeping in their family's tent, their father Walid said.
"I woke up to the sound of the explosion. "I called my three sleeping children, but no one answered. They were martyred immediately," he told AFP news agency.
Videos on social media showed the bodies of the children being transported to a local hospital in a tuk-tuk, their mattresses covered in blood inside a damaged tent.
EPA A Palestinian stands next to the blood-stained mattresses where Ahmed, Mohammed and Abdul Rahman al-Bardavil were killed in an Israeli strike, in al-Mawasi, southern Gaza (January 2, 2025) EPA
The overnight strike killed three brothers as they slept in their beds.
Aida Zanoun, who was staying in a nearby tent, said she heard an Apache helicopter gunship flying overhead at around 11:00 p.m. (2300 GMT on Wednesday).
"Then we saw a very loud [explosion]. "It caused an earthquake in the neighborhood. Some of it reached up to 100 meters [330 feet], they say," he told Reuters news agency.
"When the morning came, we went to inspect [the premises] and ... it was ruin, total destruction. What are the children doing to be affected?"
The Israeli military said the sandy strip of land along the coast in al-Mawasi was a "humanitarian zone" for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by its 14-month war with Hamas. But the Israeli military has repeatedly attacked the area, accusing Hamas members of hiding among civilians.
Six more people were later killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Interior Ministry headquarters in Khan Younis, medics said.
The Israeli military said it carried out the strike against "Hamas terrorists operating in a command and control center embedded in the Khan Younis municipality building."
The Civil Defense said on Thursday that 10 more people were killed in the town of Jabalia and four in southern Gaza City.
Deadly attacks were also reported by Palestinian media in western Gaza City and the nearby Shati refugee camp, as well as in the central town of Deir al-Balah and the urban Maghazi refugee camp. Displaced Palestinians in Anatolia use buckets to prevent their tents from being flooded by rain and sewage in al-Mawasi, near Khan Yunis, southern Gaza (January 1, 2025) Anatolia
Hundreds of tents across Gaza have been flooded by rainwater and sewage
Meanwhile, the recent cold and humidity have worsened conditions in makeshift camps for displaced families.
More than 1,500 tents across Gaza have been flooded by rainwater and sewage since Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run civil defense agency.
"When we woke up ... we were shocked to see that the rain had flooded [our tent], drowning us in the sewers," Moataz Abu Hatab told BBC Arabic's Gaza Today.
"Everything we had – our mattresses, blankets and clothes – was gone. All the things we managed to buy or get during the war are now gone and we are left with nothing. »
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group's unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 45,580 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas territory's health ministry.
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