Israeli Families Move into New West Bank Settlement Near Nablus

Israeli airstrikes have resulted in the deaths of at least a dozen people in Gaza over the past two days, according to local health officials, with strikes continuing almost daily despite a months-old ceasefire with Hamas.

On Wednesday, three members of a family were killed in central Gaza, Al Aqsa Hospital officials reported. The previous day, a woman and six police officers died in an airstrike on a police station in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. A man was killed in the bombing of a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south, while Israeli forces shot and killed a child in the Muwasi area near Rafah, hospital officials stated.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes in central and southern Gaza. Regarding the Jabaliya attack, it claimed that four of the slain police officers were Hamas militants, but offered no evidence to support the claim of their involvement in planning or executing attacks. Hamas-run authorities identified one of the officers as Col. Mohamad Marwan Salem, a senior police commander and head of the Jabaliya police station.

Hamas, which governs Gaza, operates an armed wing alongside civilian police and security services overseen by its Interior Ministry. Israel has frequently targeted Gaza's police, including those escorting humanitarian aid convoys. The Israeli military asserts that police stations are legitimate targets if they are "being used to advance military activities, or if those present are military operatives involved in advancing terrorist activities." No specific military activities or planned attacks were cited for the Jabaliya police station incident.

Attacks on Gaza's police have drawn condemnation from the United Nations human rights office. Last month, the office noted that police personnel had been attacked at least a dozen times in 2026, even during routine law enforcement duties like directing traffic. The UN expressed concern that Israeli forces may not be distinguishing between police personnel and armed group fighters in Gaza. A researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies suggested that Israel views parts of Hamas' policing apparatus as integrated with its military infrastructure, citing dual-role personnel and shared facilities for weapons and operations.

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The pattern of attacks raises concerns that Israeli forces apply no distinction between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza.