Gaza health officials said an Israeli strike on the municipal police headquarters in Gaza City killed nine people on Wednesday, with the Israeli military saying it targeted a commander in that strike and another further south.
Attacks in the Palestinian territory have continued in recent days, despite a renewed push by the United States to advance a long-term Gaza peace plan.
Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital reported the arrival of nine bodies, including a woman and a girl, and at least 20 wounded following the strike in Gaza City.
The territory’s civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue service under Hamas, confirmed the toll.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem condemned what he called Israel’s “complete disregard for all calls for a ceasefire”.
He said US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, which is tasked with implementing the ceasefire plan agreed last October, “bears responsibility for this escalation due to its failure to fulfil its obligations by pressuring the occupation” to abide by its commitments.
Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner said on Monday that progress on moving forward with the Gaza peace plan could begin within a month following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The sit-down came two weeks after Hamas endorsed the latest stage of Trump’s Gaza plan.
Meanwhile, Germany and France condemned remarks by Israel’s far-right national security minister, who declared that Israel should kill “30 or 40” people every night in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz “strongly condemns the inhumane appeals made by Minister (Itamar) Ben Gvir, which violate international law,” German government spokesman Sebastian Hille said. “They are unacceptable.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also slammed the remarks, calling them “intolerable and inhumane” in an interview with the La Montagne regional newspaper.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza on October 7, 2023.
Ben Gvir, who is already facing calls from several European countries for bloc-wide sanctions, made the call for mass killings during a podcast.
Lars Klingbeil, German vice-chancellor and finance minister, said in a TV interview that Ben Gvir’s comments “must have consequences”, adding that sanctions were being discussed at the European level.
Several European countries have called for EU-wide sanctions against the far-right minister, but the proposal has failed to win the required unanimity. — Agencies
