The head of the police force in the northern Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Saturday, according to Hamas's Interior Ministry and Palestinian rescue teams. According to sources cited by Reuters, Brigadier General Abdel Nasser al-Maqadma, also known as the governor of the northern Gaza Strip, was killed in an airstrike in the Sheikh Radwan area, north of Gaza City.
On the same day, another Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed a Palestinian rescuer. Meanwhile, a policeman wounded in an airstrike last week succumbed to his wounds. Another Israeli airstrike on a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, killed two people. Initial reports put the death toll from Saturday's Israeli strikes at at least four. The Israeli military has not yet commented on the incidents.
Hamas accuses Israel of destabilizing Gaza
Israel has said that many of the Hamas-run police killed in the recent attacks were part of the organization's armed wing and posed a threat to Israeli forces. Hamas, on the other hand, claims that the attacks on the police and its structures are aimed at creating chaos and insecurity in the Gaza Strip and violate the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States in October.
According to health authorities in Gaza, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks since the start of the ceasefire has exceeded 1,180 people, mostly civilians. Despite the ceasefire, Israeli airstrikes have continued almost daily, while four Israeli soldiers have also been killed by Palestinian militants during this period.
Efforts for a peace agreement continue
Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and the United States are continuing diplomatic efforts to advance a plan aimed at ending the war in Gaza. The proposed plan calls for the disarmament of Hamas and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, but so far the negotiations have not made significant progress.
The conflict began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Since then, the Israeli military operation in Gaza has caused thousands of Palestinian casualties, while the humanitarian situation in the territory remains dire.
