An An Israeli strike killed five police officers and a child in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, said rescuers and the Palestinian territory’s police force, which operate under Hamas authority.
Gaza’s civil defence agency reported six people killed and ‘a certain number of injured’ after an airstrike targeted a police site in the al-Tuam area.
The al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed that it received six bodies, which included those of five police officers and one child born in 2011.
An AFP correspondent there saw at least three bodies wrapped in white shrouds.
The police force in Gaza said five of its officers were killed, adding that two missiles had been fired on the police site in al-Tuam.
A witness said the attack targeted a tent used by police, located next to a checkpoint.
An Israeli military source said the army had targeted ‘Hamas terrorists’ in the area.
A ceasefire has been in place since October, but Israel reserves the right to strike targets it deems a threat.
Gaza remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue, with both the military and Hamas accusing one another of violating the truce.
The Hamas government’s interior ministry said 42 police officers have been killed in the territory since the ceasefire took effect.
In a statement, Hamas denounced what it described as ‘a crime’ against police officers intended ‘to spread chaos in the Gaza Strip’.
At least 890 Palestinians have been killed since the October 10 ceasefire, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which operates under Hamas authority and whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
Media restrictions and limited access in Gaza have prevented AFP from independently verifying casualty figures or freely covering the fighting.
Meanwhile, Israel has ordered the UN’s World Food Programme to suspend its work in Gaza with a Turkish NGO it designated a terrorist organisation, the UN agency said on Friday.
‘WFP has been instructed by the Israeli authorities to immediately suspend fuel provision and all activities with its partner IHH, cutting off assistance to more than 1,66,000 people who rely on daily hot meals, bread, and nutrition support to survive,’ an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
IHH, or the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, is a Turkish NGO that provides humanitarian assistance and search and rescue operations around the world.
WFP began working with IHH in Gaza in January 2024.
Israel designated it a terrorist organisation in May 2008 over accusations of supporting Hamas.
‘WFP’s partnership with IHH was established at a time of extreme need, particularly to reach under-served areas,’ WFP said, adding that IHH had been rigorously vetted before the start of the partnership.
Israel’s defence ministry body in charge of civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories, COGAT, announced on Thursday that it had ordered WFP to stop all coordination with IHH after learning ‘that the UN agency transferred fuel within the Gaza Strip to the IHH organisation’.
In a letter to WFP’s leadership, COGAT’s chief demanded the ‘immediate suspension of fuel distribution and all other support by WFP to IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation’.
In a statement, COGAT accused IHH of promoting flotillas that have attempted to breach its blockade of Gaza.
Israel ‘will not permit the transfer of resources to entities linked to Hamas under humanitarian cover,’ the statement added.
WFP lamented the impact the order would have on its activities in war-ravaged Gaza.
‘The imposed suspension halts around 1,11,000 meals per day and critical support to approximately 55,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and young children at risk of malnutrition,’ its spokesperson told AFP.
More than six months after the UN endorsed US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, the humanitarian situation in the territory remains catastrophic, three international NGOs said Thursday, calling on Israel to respect its obligations.
‘Israel continues to deny most experienced aid groups from bringing in essential supplies, like pipes to fix water systems, shelters, materials and medical supplies at the levels needed,’ Oxfam America president Abby Maxman said.
Despite the ceasefire meant to halt the war that started with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, violence has continued, with Israeli airstrikes pounding the coastal territory several times a week.
‘With 1.7 million people facing highly fragile food security conditions, it is critical that humanitarian operations are allowed to continue without disruption so life-saving assistance can reach civilians in need,’ WFP’s spokesperson said.
