An Israeli air strike yesterday killed a senior officer of the Hamas-run Palestinian internal security service in the Gaza Strip and an associate as they travelled in a vehicle through Deir Al Balah in central Gaza, medics and police officials said.
The strike killed Colonel Wael El Ledawi, head of the service in central Gaza, and Major Ramez Abu Zraiq, medics and the Hamas-run interior ministry said.
The Israeli military said it had carried out a strike against a Hamas member.
Israel has killed dozens of members of the Hamas-led police force, including senior officials, in the past months, accusing many of them of being members of the Hamas armed wing who posed imminent threats to Israel and its forces inside Gaza.
Hamas says Israeli attacks on the police force and its headquarters are intended to sow chaos and anarchy in the enclave and violate the US-brokered October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The latest deaths add to a toll of more than 1,190 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed by Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza health officials.
Hamas does not usually disclose its losses.
The truce halted full-scale fighting but has not ended near-daily Israeli strikes.
l Israel will allow a multinational security force to enter Gaza as proposed under US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan for the enclave, an Israeli official said yesterday, a day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington.
Netanyahu’s security cabinet yesterday approved the legal framework that would allow the force’s entry to Gaza, the official said. Netanyahu is expected to meet Trump tomorrow.
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