Since October, 890 Gazans have been killed by Israeli fire despite the supposed 'cease-fire.' Forty-two of them were police officers whose job it is to maintain some semblance of order in a tormented and fractured society

Last Monday, a 58-year-old woman was stabbed to death in one of the displaced persons' shelters in southern Gaza City. A few hours later, Gaza police arrested the victim's nephew. The motive for the killing was a financial dispute.

The day before, a 22-year-old woman was murdered in central Gaza City. Her husband was arrested. The authorities in Gaza maintain detention facilities which hold not only those who dare to criticize Hamas, but also criminal suspects whose cases are transferred to the prosecution for review. Yes, Hamas still operates some of the civilian governance institutions.

The two murders shocked many, but few were surprised. In conditions of lack of privacy in the large tents camps and the unbearable overcrowding, with Israel bombing and shelling daily from the air, sea, and land and the fear of being killed by a missile or worse, being wounded and left disabled, ever-present, frayed nerves, poverty, and hunger create a fertile ground for quarrels and violent disputes between and within families. Some say that women are the primary victims of these killings.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit also does not report on a series of bombings and shellings across the Strip in recent days that especially hit the Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps.

Such a brawl between two families broke out, for example, last Tuesday in Hamad City in the Khan Yunis district. One person fired a Kalashnikov assault rifle and within a short time, police officers appeared, arrested him, and confiscated his weapon. A similar brawl broke out on May 4, also in Hamad, after which a Kalashnikov assault rifle was confiscated and the shooter arrested. In Rafah last week, a pistol was confiscated after its owner fired it during a violent dispute between families. This is not to mention the brawls in which firearms are not used and socially-respected elders are able to step in and restore calm before the police arrive.

The police supply unit, which inspects the quality and prices of food sold by merchants, located and destroyed 279 kilograms of frozen fish unfit for human consumption last Thursday. This occurred during a routine patrol of the markets along with representatives of the Ministry of National Economy and the municipality. The smell left no doubt that the product was spoiled, a police spokesman noted.

Every such police officer who patrols the markets, displaced persons' centers and public kitchens distributing food to those without a penny, and then returns to his post at an improvised police station (the real ones were bombed and destroyed long ago), is risking his life. Despite the crucial role they play in preventing even worse suffering, Israel continues to treat police officers as targets. Forty-two such police officers – carrying out missions to support civilians within a bleeding and tormented Palestinian society – have been killed by Israeli fire since the cease-fire was declared on October 10, 2025.

On Saturday morning, five police officers were killed, all in their mid-thirties, when at least two missiles were fired at them while they were at a station in the area between Beit Lahia and northern Gaza City. Their names were Mohammed al-Ar, Rami al-Hanawi, Abd al- Hadi al-Jarbou, Salem Haniyeh, and Hani al-Madhoun. A 15-year-old boy was killed by the same strike - Saber al-Jarbou. All were originally of the Jabalya refugee camp. At least four civilians in the area were wounded as well.

Facebook was immediately filled with photos and videos: bodies scattered – in civilian clothes – among tents and next to a sewage puddle. A team of paramedics treating the wounded in a tent; people carrying the dead in blankets, presumably toward wailing ambulances; a child sitting on the floor weeping for his father, "How much I loved you," the boy sobs, explaining "They bombed him at the site [the station]... I asked him to come eat lunch with us today."

A video from a funeral; another one; announcements of mourning receptions. A post recounting that just the day before, al-Ar had narrowly escaped an Israeli missile that hit another area between Gaza and Jabalya, and a statement from the Interior Ministry in the Strip giving their take on the reason for the killing of the police officers: "Israel desires chaos in the Strip."

Palestinians look at the damage to a residential building targeted overnight by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Credit: Eyad Baba/AFP

As of Sunday morning, no official report could be found on the IDF Spokesperson's Unit website, although a security source confirmed that an attack had occurred in the area. From this, it can be inferred that this was not a killing of senior Hamas operatives of the type the IDF likes to boast about. The website does contain reports of hits on "terrorists" in the preceding days. Here are some of them: In western Rafah near the Yellow Line, a 42-year-old shepherd, Rafat Breika, was killed; in the Zeitoun neighborhood, Louay Bassl was killed in his home.

In September 2024, Israeli bombings killed four members of Bassl's family, including two children. In eastern Deir al-Balah, 26-year-old Fatima al-Zahra was killed and in Beit Lahiya 13 years old Jude Dweik was killed. And in Mawasi, Rafah, two truck drivers, Mohammed Abd al-Fattah and Mahmoud Nafez were killed by Israeli fire. Their bodies were found on Thursday, after they had been missing for several days.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit also does not report on a series of bombings and shellings across the Strip in recent days that especially hit the Al-Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps. These followed calls for people to evacuate their homes. One such bombing of Nuseirat on Sunday morning claimed the lives of 38-year-old Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Mallouh, his 36-year-old wife Alaa Zaqlan, and their one-year-old son Osama. Thus, as of Sunday morning, the number of those killed by Israel in the Gaza "cease-fire" has reached 890. The number of wounded is 2,677.