7 Palestinian policemen killed in Israeli strike in Gaza City

By Mohamed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Seven Palestinian policemen were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in Gaza City on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry in the enclave said.

A ministry statement said a number of civilians were also killed in the attack in Al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, without giving an exact figure.

The ministry said Israeli airstrikes targeting police forces and facilities “aim to spread chaos among civilians.”

“This new crime is a continuation of the Israeli disregard for all international laws that criminalize the targeting of the police force as it is a civil protection agency."

Israel has waged a military offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas last October, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

More than 33,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the seaside enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul