Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 12 people in Gaza over the past two days, local health officials said Wednesday, as attacks continue almost daily despite a ceasefire with Hamas that has been in place for months.
On Wednesday, three members of the same family were killed in central Gaza, according to officials at Al Aqsa Hospital.
On Tuesday, a woman and six police officers were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a police station in the densely populated Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, hospital officials said. In separate incidents, a man was killed in a strike on a tent camp in Khan Younis in the south, while a child was shot dead by Israeli forces in the Muwasi area outside the southern city of Rafah, according to hospital officials.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strikes in central and southern Gaza. Regarding the attack on Jabaliya, it said four of the police officers killed were Hamas militants, though it did not provide evidence linking them to the planning or execution of attacks.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry identified one of those killed as Col. Mohamad Marwan Salem, a senior police commander and head of the Jabaliya police station.
Hamas, which governed Gaza for years, operates both an armed wing and civilian police and security services under its Interior Ministry. Throughout the conflict, Israel has repeatedly targeted local police, including officers assigned to protect humanitarian aid convoys.
The Israeli military has said it considers police stations legitimate military targets if they are being used to support military operations or if personnel there are involved in terrorist activities.
However, it did not specify what military activities it believed were taking place at the Jabaliya police station or provide evidence to support its claim. Hamas has maintained that its police force is responsible for maintaining law and order.
Israeli attacks on Gaza's police have drawn criticism from the United Nations human rights office, which said police personnel had been targeted at least a dozen times in 2026, including while directing traffic and conducting routine patrols.
"The pattern of attacks raises concerns that Israeli forces apply no distinction between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza," the UN human rights office said in a June 3 statement.
Ofer Guterman, a researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies, said Israel appears to view parts of Hamas' policing system as closely linked to its military infrastructure through dual-role personnel and the use of police facilities for storing weapons and supporting military operations.
The ceasefire agreement reached in October sought to end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas.
Although large-scale fighting has eased, Gaza's Health Ministry says at least 1,123 people have been killed since the ceasefire took effect. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-led government, keeps detailed casualty records that are generally regarded as credible by UN agencies and independent experts. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants but says women and children account for most of the fatalities.
Militants have continued carrying out shooting attacks on Israeli troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to those attacks and other ceasefire violations. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed since the truce began.
The war started after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage. Since then, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 73,264 Palestinians, including those killed after the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.