CAIRO: At least 54 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 11 in a tent camp that housed displaced families, according to medical officials. They claimed that among the 11 were women and children from the Al-Mawasi region, which was declared a civilian humanitarian zone earlier in the war, which is currently in its fifteenth month.
According to the Gaza interior ministry, the strike claimed the lives of Mahmoud Salah, the director general of the police department in Gaza, and Hussam Shahwan, his assistant.
According to a statement, “the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos in the (enclave) and deepening the human suffering of citizens by committing the crime of assassinating the director general of police in the Gaza Strip.”
The Israeli military described Shahwan as the leader of Hamas security forces in southern Gaza and claimed to have killed him in an intelligence-based hit in Al-Mawasi, just west of the city of Khan Yunis. The death of Salah was not mentioned.
Among the deceased were women, children, and the local police head.
At least forty-three Palestinians were killed by other Israeli attacks, including six in the interior ministry headquarters in Khan Yunis and others in the Maghazi camp in central Gaza, the Shati (Beach) camp, and the Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza.
The Israeli military claimed to have struck Hamas militants who were reportedly working from a command and control center “embedded inside the Khan Yunis municipality building in the Humanitarian Area,” according to intelligence.
In a post on X, Philippe Lazzarini, the chairman of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, stated, “As the year begins, we got reports of yet another attack on Al-Mawasi with dozens of people killed, another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone let alone a safe zone (in Gaza).”
“There will be more tragedies every day if there is no ceasefire.”
In response to a question regarding the reported death toll on Thursday, an Israeli military spokeswoman stated that the battle in Gaza was conducted in accordance with international law and that “feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm” were taken. Separate Israeli bombings later Thursday killed two individuals in Gaza City’s Zeitoun sector and at least four on Jala Street in downtown, according to medical officials.
Islamic Jihad, a lesser supporter of Hamas, claimed to have launched missiles into the Holit kibbutz in southern Israel on Thursday, close to Gaza. One rocket that had crossed from southern Gaza was reportedly stopped by the Israeli soldiers in the region.
Gaza’s health ministry claims that Israel has killed over 45,500 Palestinians during the conflict. The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes, and a large portion of the small, densely populated coastal region is in ruins.
