Daijiworld Media Network – Gaza City
Gaza City, Jul 15: At least seven people, including a senior officer of Gaza's Hamas-run police force and a woman, were killed in an Israeli air strike on a police post in northern Gaza on Tuesday, according to Palestinian health and police officials.
Witnesses said an Israeli drone fired four missiles at the police post near a busy market in the Jabalia area.
Gaza's Hamas-run interior ministry identified one of those killed as Col Mohammed Marwan Salem, head of the local police station, and said several other police officers also died in what it described as a "massacre".
The Israeli military, however, said Marwan was the head of military security for Hamas's Central Jabalia Battalion and identified three others killed in the strike as Abdul Malik al-Jabin, Ghassan al-Daqas and Yaman Abu Obeida. It said the four were Hamas operatives, adding that the first two also served as police officers.
The bodies of those killed were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Relatives of one of the deceased police officers disputed Israel's account, insisting he was a civilian policeman on routine patrol duty when the strike occurred.
Meanwhile, two more people were reportedly killed in separate incidents in southern Gaza. According to medics, an Israeli air strike in the Khan Younis area killed one man and injured three others. The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas operative.
In Rafah, a 10-year-old boy was reportedly killed by Israeli gunfire, according to local health officials. The Israeli military has not commented on the incident.
The latest violence comes amid continued accusations by both Israel and Hamas of repeated violations of the ceasefire that came into effect in Gaza last October.
According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at least 1,110 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire began, while the Israeli military says four of its soldiers have been killed in attacks by Palestinian militants during the same period.
The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,230 people, according to Gaza's health ministry.