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Police chief killed in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed Gaza City police chief Colonel Jamal Abu Kamil, 43, after a drone fired three missiles at his vehicle on al-Rashid Street, southwest of Gaza City, also injuring two others.
“drone fired three missiles at his vehicle on al-Rashid Street, southwest of Gaza City”
Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military targeted Abu Kamil to “remove a threat,” while Gaza’s police force denied the claim and said Abu Kamil “committed to his police duties and has no connection to other activities”.
Reuters said the Hamas-led interior ministry confirmed the “assassination” by Israel of police colonel Jamal Abu Kmail, and it also described a separate Khan Younis motorbike strike that killed one person and wounded another.
The Reuters report said Israel had stepped up attacks on members of the Hamas-led police force since an October ceasefire began, killing dozens of them, and it placed the Thursday strikes as the first reported fatalities in more than a week as Israel scaled back targeted attacks under U.S. pressure.
Condemnations and competing claims
The Palestinian Al-Ahrar Movement condemned the killing of Colonel Jamal Mahmoud Abu Kamil in an Israeli airstrike west of Gaza City, saying the movement held the Zionist enemy fully responsible for the crime and its repercussions.
In a press statement received by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), the movement affirmed that the blood of Abu Kamil and the Palestinian people will not be used as a price for the enemy’s evasion of its obligations, framing the escalation of assassinations as an attempt to pressure the resistance.
Al Jazeera reported that Hamas condemned the killing in a statement, calling it “a continuation of the brutal crimes committed by the occupation against our Palestinian people” and its “pathetic and failed attempts to spread chaos and lawlessness in the Gaza Strip”.
Reuters, meanwhile, reported that the Israeli military said in a statement that the Khan Younis airstrike targeted a Hamas commander planning an attack on its troops, while it said the Israeli military did not immediately comment on the Gaza City killing.
Ceasefire, next phase, and risk
The killing came as Israel continued strikes despite a ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025, with Al Jazeera saying Israel continues to violate a so-called “ceasefire” agreed to in October.
“despite the ceasefire that took effect on 10 October 2025”
Reuters said U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, with Israeli forces withdrawing as Hamas disarms and an International Stabilization Force working with a new Palestinian police force to secure the enclave.
Al Jazeera reported that Hamas said it accepts the deal to avoid a return to full-scale war, but insists that implementation depends on Israel first withdrawing its forces and halting attacks, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a rejection of the agreement on Sunday and said Israeli forces would not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas was “genuinely disarmed”.
Reuters added that Israeli fire has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, since a U.S.-backed ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war in October, and it said it is unclear how many of those killed might be militants since Hamas does not usually disclose information about dead fighters.
