Cairo, March 16: At least 12 Palestinians, including two boys, a pregnant woman and eight police officers, were killed Sunday by Israeli airstrikes in the war-torn Gaza Strip, hospital authorities said.
A strike Sunday morning hit a house in the urban refugee camp of Nuseirat in central Gaza and killed four people, including a couple in their 30s and their 10-year-old son, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. The woman had been pregnant with twins, the hospital said.
The fourth fatality, a 15-year-old neighbour, was taken to the Awda hospital in Nuseirat.
“We were sleeping and got up to the strike of a missile. The strike was strong,” said Mahmoud al-Muhtaseb, a neighbour. “There was no prior warning.”
Another strike Sunday afternoon hit a police vehicle on the south-north Salah al-Din route at the entrance of the central town of Zawaida, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said.
The strike killed eight police officers, including Col. Iyad Ab Yousef, a senior police official in central Gaza, the ministry said.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll. It said 14 others were wounded.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hamas militant on Sunday in response to an earlier incident in which a militant opened fire at troops. It didn’t provide further details.
Hamas oversees a police force that maintains a high degree of public security after the militants seized power in Gaza in 2007, while also cracking down on dissent.
The police largely melted away during the war as Israeli forces seized large areas of Gaza and targeted Hamas security forces with airstrikes.
But following an October ceasefire, they have reappeared in Gaza streets and reasserted control in areas not controlled by the Israeli military.
Killings continue despite the ceasefire
Sunday’s deaths were the latest fatalities among Palestinians in the coastal enclave since the ceasefire deal attempted to halt a more than two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
While the heaviest fighting has subsided, the ceasefire has still seen almost daily Israeli fire. Israeli forces have carried out repeated airstrikes and frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones, killing more than 650 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.
Israel says it has responded to violations of the ceasefire or targeted wanted militants. But about half of those killed have been women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
They were among more than 72,200 Palestinians killed in the war, which was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The militant attack killed over 1,200 people and took over 250 others hostage.
The health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. But it does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.
Israel to allow reopening of Rafah crossing
Separately, Israel announced it will allow the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt starting Wednesday after a more than two-week hiatus.
COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that the crossing will resume operations with “limited” passenger traffic in both directions. No cargo will be allowed through the crossing, it said.
COGAT said procedures will be the same as before the crossing closed after Israel and the US launched devastating strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering an expanding war in the region.
Since its opening earlier this year, Israel has allowed a limited evacuation of patients and wounded people for treatment outside Gaza – a fraction of more than 20,000 requiring medical evacuations, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Some Palestinians who were treated in Egypt during the war were also allowed to return to the strip. Some of the returnees reported abuses by Israeli troops once they crossed the Palestinian gate of the crossing. (AP)
