On Thursday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 43 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including 11 people staying in a tent camp where displaced families were sheltering, medics said.
They said the 11 included women and children from Al-Mawasi district, which was designated as a humanitarian zone for civilians at the beginning of the war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group, which has now raged for 15 months.
Gaza Police Director General Mahmoud Salah and his aide Hussam Shahwan were killed in the strike, according to Gaza's Interior Ministry.
“By committing the crime of assassinating the director general of the Gaza Strip police, the occupier insists on spreading chaos in (the enclave) and deepening the human suffering of its citizens,” he added in a statement.
The Israeli military said it carried out an intelligence-led attack in Al-Mawasi, west of the town of Khan Younis, and eliminated Shahwan, naming him the head of Hamas security forces in southern Gaza. It made no mention of Salah's death.
Other Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 Palestinians, including six at the Interior Ministry headquarters in Khan Younis and others in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, the Shati (beach) camp and the Maghazi camp in central Gaza.
The Israeli military said it targeted Hamas fighters who intelligence said were operating from a command and control center “located in the Khan Younis Municipality building in the humanitarian area.”
“At the beginning of the year, we received reports of another attack on Al-Mawasi, which killed and injured dozens of people. “Another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone, let alone a 'safe zone' (in Gaza),” Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees UNRWA, said in a post on the X website.
“Every day without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy.”
Asked about Thursday's death toll, an Israeli military spokesman said that in fighting the war in Gaza, it had respected international law and taken “practicable precautions to mitigate harm to the civilian population.”
Later on Thursday, separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people on Jala Street in central Gaza and two in the Zeitoun district, medics said.
The Israeli military accused Gaza militants of using built-up residential areas as cover. Hamas denies this.
Hamas' smaller ally, Islamic Jihad, said on Thursday it fired rockets at Kibbutz Holit near Gaza in southern Israel. The Israeli military said it intercepted one missile in the area, which came from southern Gaza.
According to the Gaza Strip health ministry, Israel has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians during the war. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and much of the tiny, densely built coastal territory is in ruins.
According to Israeli data, the war was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were taken hostage in Gaza. Hamas' ally, Islamic Jihad, also took part in the attack.
The hostage tried to take his own life
An Israeli hostage held by the militant group Islamic Jihad in Gaza tried to take his own life, a spokesman for the movement's armed wing said in a video posted on Telegram on Thursday.
One of the group's medical teams intervened and prevented the death, the Al-Quds Brigades spokesman added, without going into details about the hostage's identity or his current condition.
Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Hamza said that three days ago the hostage tried to take his own life due to his mental condition, without going into details.
Abu Hamza accused the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of setting new conditions that led to the “failure and delay” of hostage release negotiations.
Abu Hamza said the man was to be released along with other hostages under the terms of the first phase of the exchange deal with Israel. He did not specify when the man was to be released or under what agreement.
Efforts by Arab mediators, backed by the United States, have so far failed to reach a ceasefire in Gaza as part of a possible agreement that would also include the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for the freedom of Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad has issued a decision to tighten security measures against the hostages, Abu Hamza added.
In July, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad reported that some Israeli hostages attempted suicide after it began treating them in the same way Israel treated Palestinian prisoners.
“We will continue to treat Israeli hostages the same way Israel treats our prisoners,” Abu Hamza said at the time. Israel has rejected accusations of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.