An Israeli airstrike on a Hamas police facility in Gaza City killed eight senior police officers, Hamas's Interior Ministry said. The strike hit the Hamas police headquarters in the Daraj-Tuffah neighborhood.
Among those killed was Lieutenant Colonel Ayman Mahmoud Jundiya, 47, the acting commander of Gaza District Police. Also killed was Colonel Fatina Abd al-Jabbar al-Sakhar, 42, who headed the women's police department.
The other six were Colonel Osama Hashem al-Hajin, operations director for Gaza District Police: Colonel Ibrahim Abd al-Rahman Tamraz, Colonel Alaa Ali Elian, Lieutenant Colonel Hazem Jaber Khalaf, Major Othman Shahata Abu Saman and Lieutenant Samhar Masbah Hamada.
Israeli sources said the targeted building also housed operatives and commanders from Hamas's military wing, and that the strike aimed at a gathering of Hamas personnel planning operations against IDF forces. The IDF also struck Nuseirat separately, killing Subhi Sami Mahmoud Shahtout, identified by the military as a company commander in Hamas's armed wing.
The strike follows a pattern in recent weeks. On August 13, Israeli forces killed Jamal Abu Kamil, commander of Gaza City police, in a separate airstrike.
Palestinian reports described the operation as the decapitation of an entire command layer of Hamas's police force in Gaza City rather than a targeted strike on a single individual. The elimination of eight officers, including two of the most senior figures in the police apparatus, is likely to significantly impair Hamas police's ability to maintain control and coordinate activities on the ground.
