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At least 18 killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza including children
Palestinian and hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people in the Gaza Strip, including three children and two high-ranking officers in the Hamas-run police force, Associated Press reports.
One strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared “humanitarian zone” known as al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.
In a statement Israel’s military said it had carried out what it described as “an intelligence-based strike” which had killed Hussam Shahwan, who it described as a terrorist. A statement from the Hamas-led interior ministry inside the Gaza Strip confirmed the death of the man who worked for the police.
Associated Press reports that Israel has repeatedly targeted the police inside Gaza, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver the limited amount of aid being allowed to pass into the territory by Israel.
In a separate Israeli strike at least eight Palestinian men were killed. They were reported to be members of local committees that help secure aid convoys. An Associated Press reporter at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll.
The Hamas-led health authority in the Gaza Strip has raised the total death toll from Israel’s military campaign to at least 45,581 Palestinians, with 108,438 wounded since 7 October 2023.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Key events
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 37 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 11 people in a tent encampment sheltering displaced families, medics said.
They said the 11 included women and children in the Al-Mawasi district, which was designated as a humanitarian zone for civilians earlier in the war between Israel and Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group, now in its 15th month.
The director general of Gaza’s police department, Mahmoud Salah, and his aide, Hussam Shahwan, were killed in the strike, according to the Gaza interior ministry.
“By committing the crime of assassinating the director general of police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos in the (enclave) and deepening the human suffering of citizens,” it added in a statement.
The Israeli military said it had conducted an intelligence-based strike in Al-Mawasi, just west of the city of Khan Younis, and eliminated Shahwan, calling him the head of Hamas security forces in southern Gaza. It made no mention of Salah’s death.
Other Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 Palestinians, including six in the interior ministry headquarters in Khan Younis and others in north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, the Shati (Beach) camp and central Gaza’s Maghazi camp.
Israel’s military said it had targeted Hamas militants who intelligence indicated were operating in a command and control centre “embedded inside the Khan Younis municipality building in the Humanitarian Area”.
Asked about the reported 37 deaths, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said it followed international law in waging the war in Gaza and that it took “feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm”.
The military has accused Gaza militants of using built-up residential areas for cover. Hamas denies this.
Here are the latest images from Gaza:
In a statement Israel’s military has claimed that it launched a strike against a building being used by Hamas in Khan Younis.
On its official Telegram channel, the IDF said the operation was “an intelligence-based strike on Hamas terrorists who were operating in a control and command centre that was embedded inside the Khan Yunis municipality building in the humanitarian area.”
Palestinian media sources are reporting that six people were killed.
The claims have not been independently verified, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of utilising “civilian infrastructure” in the Gaza Strip, which is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri has met with French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot in Beirut.
An Israeli hostage held by Gaza’s Islamic Jihad militant group has tried to take his own life, the spokesperson for the movement’s armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday, Reuters reports.
One of the group’s medical teams intervened and prevented him from dying, the Al Quds Brigades spokesperson added, without going into any more detail on the hostage’s identity or current condition.
Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
At least 18 killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza including children
Palestinian and hospital officials say Israeli airstrikes killed at least 18 people in the Gaza Strip, including three children and two high-ranking officers in the Hamas-run police force, Associated Press reports.
One strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared “humanitarian zone” known as al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.
In a statement Israel’s military said it had carried out what it described as “an intelligence-based strike” which had killed Hussam Shahwan, who it described as a terrorist. A statement from the Hamas-led interior ministry inside the Gaza Strip confirmed the death of the man who worked for the police.
Associated Press reports that Israel has repeatedly targeted the police inside Gaza, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver the limited amount of aid being allowed to pass into the territory by Israel.
In a separate Israeli strike at least eight Palestinian men were killed. They were reported to be members of local committees that help secure aid convoys. An Associated Press reporter at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll.
The Hamas-led health authority in the Gaza Strip has raised the total death toll from Israel’s military campaign to at least 45,581 Palestinians, with 108,438 wounded since 7 October 2023.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has issued a statement claiming to have killed Hussam Shahwan, who it described as a terrorist. It accused Hamas-led internal security forces inside the Gaza Strip of “conducting violent interrogations of the Gazan population, violating human rights and suppressing dissent within the organisation.”
Al Jazeera reported that the Hamas-led interior ministry earlier issued a statement saying Shahwan had been killed.
Al Jazeera reports that the Hamas-led interior ministry in Gaza has confirmed the deaths of the chief of Gaza’s police force Mahmoud Salah, and his deputy Hussam Shahwan after an Israeli strike.
It cites a statement from the ministry which claims “they were performing their humanitarian and national duty in serving our people.”
The statement continued:
By committing the assassination, the occupation continues to spread chaos in the Strip and deepen the human suffering of citizens. The police force is a civil protection force that works to provide services to citizens.
Israel’s military reports warning sirens sounding in kibbutz Holit, which is in the west of Israel, close to Rafah in the Gaza Strip and to Israel’s border with Egypt.
A statement on the IDF’s official Telegram channel said that the Israeli air defence “intercepted one projectile that crossed from the southern Gaza Strip.”
Local media reports that an Israeli drone has struck an area in southern Lebanon between Beit Lif and Yater.
Here is an image from the Gaza Strip this morning showing smoke rising from an Israeli strike on the territory.