GAZA CITY, Palestine: An Israeli airstrike on a police station in northern Gaza killed at least eight people on Tuesday, including the station’s chief and a female police officer, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency, as violence continued despite an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said eight bodies were transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital after an Israeli strike targeted a police station in the al-Faluja area of the Jabalia refugee camp.
Al-Shifa Hospital confirmed to AFP that it had received eight bodies.
In a statement condemning the strike, Hamas said the head of the Jabalia police station was among those killed.
Gaza’s interior ministry later identified him as Colonel Mohammad Marwan Salem, the head of the Jabalia police force. It said at least six police personnel, including the station’s director, were killed, along with a civilian, while several other people were wounded.
The ministry described the attack as a “horrific massacre against officers and members of the police force”.
The Israeli military confirmed to AFP that it had carried out a strike in the area, saying it had targeted Hamas fighters.
Separate Israeli attacks elsewhere in Gaza raised Tuesday’s death toll to at least 11, according to Palestinian health officials and media reports.
Medics said 10-year-old Muataz Abu Shaar was killed by Israeli gunfire in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Palestinian Wafa news agency reported that the child was struck by heavy machine-gun fire and died before reaching hospital.
In Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike killed a 36-year-old man and wounded three others, including a woman and a child, according to Wafa. Another man also died from wounds sustained in Israeli gunfire two days earlier in the same area.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike against a Hamas fighter in Khan Younis.
The latest attacks came despite a ceasefire that took effect in October and halted large-scale fighting but has failed to end sporadic violence across the Gaza Strip.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 1,110 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the truce began.
