Israeli strike kills 11 people, including head of Gaza police, Palestinian officials say

An Israeli strike killed at least 11 Palestinians overnight, including the director general of Gaza police and a deputy, in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, local officials said Thursday.

An Israeli strike killed at least 11 Palestinians overnight, including the director general of Gaza police and a deputy, in Al-Mawasi, southern Gaza, local officials said Thursday. Gaza’s interior ministry accused Israel of killing Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Salah, aged 50 and a father-of-four, and Maj. Gen. Hussam Shahwan, a member of the Police Command Council, to undermine law and order in the Palestinian territory. “By committing the crime of assassinating the Director General of Police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos in the Strip and deepening the human suffering of citizens,” the ministry said in a Thursday statement. The Israeli military said it killed Shahwan, the deputy, on Thursday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Shahwan was a “terrorist” who was “responsible for developing intelligence assessments in coordination with elements of Hamas’ military wing” in Gaza. The IDF did not acknowledge Salah’s killing in its statement. The Israeli offensive since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in 2023 has eroded law infrastructure in Gaza. The presence of heavily armed groups has also stifled relief efforts in a territory besieged by Israel’s sustained aid restrictions and severe hunger, disease and mass displacement. Palestinian police have played a key role in ensuring the safe delivery of humanitarian aid. But human rights agencies have repeatedly warned that Israel’s sustained aid restrictions have strangled relief operations in the enclave, citing lengthy truck inspections, damaged roads, strikes on aid convoys and impeded access to the north.