Israel killed at least 71 more Palestinians in a series of attacks across Gaza in the last 24 hours.
Israeli forces carried out “horrific crimes”, carrying out 34 airstrikes across the besieged territory, Al Jazeera quoted local officials as saying. It was one of the bloodiest days of Israel’s war on Gaza in recent weeks.
One of the latest strikes targeted a sprawling tent camp housing displaced Palestinians and reportedly killed 11 people, including the head of Gaza’s police force, which is controlled by Hamas, and his deputy.
Israel claimed the deputy was the head of the Hamas security forces in southern Gaza.
The strike targeted Al Mawasi, a “humanitarian zone” for Gazans driven from their homes by relentless Israeli bombardment and shelling over the last 15 months.
Mahmoud Salah, director general of Gaza’s police, and his aide Hussam Shahwan were reportedly checking on civilians staying in the camp when Israeli forces struck it.
“By committing the crime of assassinating the director general of police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos and deepening the human suffering of citizens,” Gaza’s interior ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military confirmed the strike in Al Mawasi, just west of Khan Younis, and claimed that Shahwan was leading the Hamas forces in southern Gaza. It made no mention of Salah’s death, however.
“Another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone, let alone a safe zone,” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, said in a post on X. “Everyday without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy.”
Israeli forces also attacked the interior ministry office in Khan Younis, killing at least six people, as well as north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, the Shati beach camp, central Gaza’s Maghazi camp, and Gaza City.
The military said it was targeting Hamas militants operating a command and control centre “embedded inside the Khan Younis municipality building in the humanitarian area”.
Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization said Israel was still permitting only a trickle of sick and wounded people in the Gaza Strip to travel abroad for life-saving medical treatment.
The UN agency had helped 5,383 patients travel abroad since Israel launched the war on Gaza in October 2023 but around 12,000 were still waiting to leave, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on Thursday. It had become increasingly difficult to move patients out since Israeli forces took over and shut down the Rafah border crossing in May. Since then, only 436 patients had left Gaza, Dr Tedros said.
“At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children. In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die.”
He urged Israel to increase the approval rate for medical evacuations, not deny any child patient, and allow all possible corridors and border crossings to be used.
Israel controls all the entry and exit points for Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 45,500 Palestinians, according to the health ministry, displaced nearly 90 per cent of the 2.3 million people, and left the tiny, densely populated coastal territory in ruins.
Humanitarian agencies estimate that over 1.6 million Gazans are living in makeshift shelters, nearly half a million in flood-prone areas.
The war came after a Hamas attack on southern Israel saw nearly 1,200 civilians and soldiers killed and over 250 taken hostage.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday he had authorised a delegation from the intelligence services and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Hamas did not issue an immediate comment.
American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have spent nearly a year attempting to broker a ceasefire and facilitate hostage releases, only to see their efforts repeatedly stalled.
Additional reporting by agencies.
