Nearly seventy dead in new Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip

(Patria) - At least 68 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including in a camp where the head of the Hamas-controlled enclave's police forces, his deputy and nine displaced persons were killed, Gaza authorities said, Reuters reported.

Israel said the deputy was the head of the security forces of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in southern Gaza.

The attack occurred in the Al-Mawasi district, which had earlier been designated a humanitarian zone for civilians during the fourteen-month war between Israel and Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Mahmoud Salah, the general director of the police administration in Gaza, and his assistant Hussam Shahwan, were killed in the attack, according to Hamas's interior ministry in Gaza.

"By committing the crime of murdering the general director of police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation insists on spreading chaos in (the enclave) and deepening the human suffering of citizens," the statement added.

The Israeli military said it carried out an attack in Al-Mawasi based on intelligence, west of the city of Khan Younis, and eliminated Shahwan, saying he led Hamas forces in southern Gaza. They did not mention Salah's death.

"As the year begins, we have received ... another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone, let alone a safe zone" in Gaza, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, in a post on social media platform X. "Every day without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy."

The death toll on Thursday was among the highest in recent weeks. In other Israeli airstrikes, at least 57 Palestinians were killed, including six at the headquarters of the interior ministry in Khan Younis and others in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Shati camp, the Maghazi camp in central Gaza, and Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas militants whom intelligence said were operating in a command and control center "embedded within the Khan Younis municipality building in the Humanitarian Area."

Asked about the reported death toll on Thursday, an Israeli military spokesperson said it followed international law in conducting the war in Gaza and took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm."