Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of at least eight Palestinians on Sunday, including five police officers, according to medical officials and the Hamas-run interior ministry. The incidents involved two separate attacks.
Medics reported that three individuals were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Concurrently, the interior ministry stated that five police officers died in another strike targeting the western Khan Younis area in the southern part of the enclave.
The Israeli military confirmed striking "several militants" in Khan Younis but provided no further details. No immediate comment was issued regarding the Gaza City strike. These recent actions follow an intensification of Israeli strikes against Hamas in recent weeks, with Israel asserting that the militant group has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of a year-old ceasefire.
Hamas has denied these allegations, accusing Israel of undermining the Gaza peace agreement. The ceasefire, brokered by the United States last year, had stipulated eventual reconstruction of the territory. However, progress has been minimal due to disagreements over Hamas's disarmament and Israel's troop withdrawal from approximately two-thirds of the territory, where residents have been ordered to evacuate.
The majority of Gaza's over two million residents reside in the remaining third of the enclave, amidst the ruins of conflict, often in makeshift shelters and damaged buildings, all under Hamas's continued control. Since the ceasefire, Palestinian health officials report at least 1,500 Palestinian deaths from Israeli attacks, while Israel reports four soldiers killed.
Palestinian authorities maintain that over 74,000 people have died in Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, which commenced after Hamas-led fighters killed approximately 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
