
People mourn over the bodies of displaced Palestinian children killed in an overnight Israeli strike on a makeshift displacement camp in Mawasi Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP
The strike early Thursday hit a tent in an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone known as Al-Mawasi, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents during the cold and rainy winter.
"Eleven people were martyred, including three children and two women, and 15 were injured after the occupation aircraft bombed a tent housing displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis city in the southern Gaza Strip," Gaza's civil defence agency said in a statement.
Among those killed were police chief Maj. Gen. Mahmud Salah and his deputy Brig. Gen Hussam Shahwan, agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said.
The Hamas-run government in Gaza included tens of thousands of police who maintained a high level of public order before the outbreak of the war.
The police have largely vanished from the streets in many areas after being targeted by Israel.
However, residents say plainclothes Hamas security men still patrol much of the territory, and the group has faced no significant internal challenge nearly 15 months into the devastating war.
On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened that Israel would intensify its strikes on Gaza if Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel.
Renewed rocket fires from Gaza in recent days have caused little damage in Israel. The rockets have been fired in far fewer numbers than in the early stages of the war, but they are a political blow for the Israeli government after nearly 15 months of fighting.
Katz also demanded the release of captives still held in Gaza.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians. Women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
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