CAIRO/GAZA, May 10, 2026 (Reuters) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least three Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, including the head of the Hamas-run criminal police force and his aide, local health officials said. The incidents underscored the fragility of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that took effect in October 2025.
In central Gaza, an Israeli strike on the Maghazi refugee camp killed one person and wounded two others, medics reported.
Separately, in the southern city of Khan Younis, an airstrike hit a vehicle in the Al-Amal neighbourhood, killing Wessam Abdel-Hadi, head of the criminal police force, and his aide, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry.
The Israeli military said it struck two militants in the central Gaza area who were conducting “suspicious” activity and approached forces, posing an immediate threat. For the Khan Younis strike, it said it targeted members of an elite Hamas force that was planning “imminent attacks” against Israeli troops.
Reuters has previously reported that Israel has intensified operations against Gaza’s Hamas-run police, which the militant group has used to re-establish governance and maintain order in areas under its control.
Violence has persisted in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with local medics reporting at least 850 Palestinians killed since October 2025. Israel says militants have killed four of its soldiers in the same period. Both sides have accused each other of violating the truce.
At the funeral for the two police officials, mourners carried their white-shrouded bodies through the streets of Khan Younis while chanting “There is no God but Allah, the martyrs are beloved by Allah.” One mourner, Ali Mousa, told Reuters that Israel was deliberately targeting police officers “to cause chaos and confusion within the Gaza Strip.”
“Although the ceasefire came into effect several months ago, the occupation continues to target the police officers to cause chaos among the people of the same nation,” Mousa said. “The occupation aims to create chaos and confusion within the Gaza Strip. This is its sole objective.”
More than 72,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza war since it began in October 2023, according to Gaza health authorities, most of them civilians.
The latest strikes come amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to solidify the fragile truce, which has faced repeated challenges from both sides.
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