Israeli strike kills eight Palestinian police officers in central Gaza Strip

Eight Palestinian police officers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, as Israeli violations of a 2025 ceasefire deal continue.

The territory’s health ministry said that Colonel Iyad Abu Youssef, director of the Intervention and Public Order Police in central Gaza, was killed along with seven other officers and personnel after Israeli aircraft struck their vehicle on Salah al-Din Street near the entrance to the town of Al-Zawayda.

Videos of the car wreckage as a result of the strike were shared online.

Citing medical sources, Anadolu Agency said the bodies of eight Palestinians had arrived at hospitals following the attack.

The targeted area lies outside the zone controlled by the Israeli army, which continues to occupy more than 50 percent of the coastal Palestinian enclave.

According to figures by the Gaza government’s media office, the Israeli army has killed more than 787 members of Gaza’s security and police services, as well as personnel assigned to secure aid deliveries, while they were on duty, during the war on Gaza.

Among those killed was police chief Major General Mahmoud Salah, who was subject to an assassination, in addition to several heads of specialised units and senior officials within the police force.

A ceasefire last year between Israel and Hamas ended two years of genocidal war that killed over 72,000 people and devastated the Gaza Strip. However, Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing more than 660 people since the truce came into effect on 10 October.

The implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire has been slow. Earlier this year, a so-called "Board of Peace" which is meant to administer post-war Gaza was announced by US President Donald Trump, who will lead the board himself.

An interim government in Gaza was also formed but is yet to begin work in the Strip.

A multinational force is expected to begin deploying in Gaza from the start of May, and Israel is supposed to gradually start pulling its troops out of the territory.