Hamas police chief killed in Israeli strike on Gaza, medics say

An Israeli air strike on a tent camp sheltering displaced families in southern Gaza has killed at least 11 Palestinians, including the chief of the territory’s Hamas-run police force, medics say.

Three children and two women were also reportedly among the dead in al-Mawasi, west of the city of Khan Younis.

The Hamas-run interior ministry condemned what it called the “assassination” of police director general Mahmoud Salah, and his assistant, Hussam Shahwan, who it said had been “performing their humanitarian and national duty”.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.

The military has declared the sandy strip of land along the coast in al-Mawasi to be a “humanitarian zone” for Palestinians displaced by its war with Hamas. But it has repeatedly attacked it, accusing Hamas operatives of hiding among displaced civilians.

Recent cold, wet weather has worsened conditions in the makeshift camp.

In the past day, there have also been deadly Israeli air strikes in a suburb of Gaza City, further north in Jabalia, and in Bureij in central Gaza – from where the Israeli military said rockets were fired into southern Israel at the very start of the new year.