The head of the Hamas‑run police force in northern Gaza was killed in an Israeli airstrike, and five additional Palestinians have also died in separate attacks, according to the Hamas interior ministry and local medics.
Brigadier General Abdel‑Nasser Al‑Maqadma, who also served as governor of northern Gaza, was targeted in the Sheikh Radwan district north of Gaza City on Saturday. The Israeli military said he was also a member of Hamas’s armed wing.
Additional Israeli strikes killed a Palestinian medic in the Nuseirat refugee camp and two individuals in a house in Khan Younis. The Israeli military stated that the house was targeted because it housed a member of the Islamic Jihad organization.
On Saturday, another airstrike in Khan Younis killed high‑school student Khaled Al‑Breim. Relatives reported that he was killed while trying to bring sweets to family members and friends who had gathered to celebrate his recent graduation and upcoming university enrollment.
A sixth fatality was a police officer who had been wounded in a previous Israeli strike and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.
In recent months, Israeli forces have killed dozens of members of the Hamas‑controlled police force, asserting that many were linked to Hamas’s armed wing and posed an ongoing threat.
Hamas accuses Israel of deliberately targeting the police force to destabilise the enclave, describing the actions as a further violation of the October‑brokered ceasefire.
The ceasefire agreement has largely been ignored by Israel. Since the truce was signed, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,180 Palestinians, predominantly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while four Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza attacks during the same period.
