Israeli quadcopter strike kills three in Gaza, including police chief

Fresh blood was spilled in southern Gaza on Monday as Israeli fire once again shattered the fragile ceasefire that came into effect in October, killing three Palestinians in Khan Younis and plunging the besieged enclave deeper into grief and fear, the Al Jazeera reported.

According to sources in Gaza, an Israeli quadcopter drone struck Khan Younis, cutting down three men in a targeted attack. The victims were later identified by the Palestinian news agency Wafa as Wissam Abdullah Salem al-Amour, Mahmoud Subhi Breika and Atef Samir al-Bayouk. In a separate incident, a Palestinian woman was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the al-Batn al-Sameen area of the city.

The deadly drone strike came amid a wider escalation, with Israeli forces carrying out air raids and artillery shelling across several parts of Gaza throughout the day, further eroding hopes that the ceasefire might hold, the Al Jazeera reported.

Gaza’s authorities say the latest killings are part of a relentless pattern of violations since the truce began on 10 October. Despite the ceasefire, more than 440 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,200 wounded in continued Israeli attacks, according to the ministry of health. The government media office in Gaza says Israel has breached the ceasefire at least 1,193 times through airstrikes, shelling and gunfire.

The violence unfolded alongside a chilling assassination that claimed the life of Khan Younis’s police chief, Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Al-Astal. Gaza’s interior ministry said the senior security officer was shot dead in the al-Mawasi area along Gaza’s coastline when gunmen opened fire from a vehicle and fled the scene.

Describing the killing as a calculated act, the ministry accused “agents of the occupation” of carrying out the assassination and said security services had launched an investigation to track down the perpetrators. Officials suggested the attackers were likely members of an anti-Hamas militia operating in coordination with the Israeli military.

In a statement, the interior ministry said the 40-year-old officer was killed in “a shooting carried out from a vehicle occupied by several agents” who escaped immediately after the attack. A militia leader active in Israeli-controlled areas later claimed responsibility for the killing.

The assassination echoes a similar attack last month, when Ahmed Zamzam, another officer in Gaza’s Interior Ministry, was gunned down in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Gaza authorities said their investigation at the time pointed to the involvement of collaborators working with Israel.

The latest deaths add to the staggering toll of Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023. More than 71,400 Palestinians — most of them women and children — have been killed, and over 171,000 injured. Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, with homes, hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure reduced to rubble.

As drones hum overhead and gunfire punctures the uneasy calm, Gaza’s ceasefire appears increasingly hollow — a pause in name only, as violence continues to claim lives across the battered enclave.