In a continued escalation of Israel’s assault on Gaza, four Palestinians, including three police officers, were killed and several others wounded on Sunday following two airstrikes east of Rafah, in the southern part of the besieged enclave.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza reported that Israeli warplanes targeted police officers while they were securing humanitarian aid convoys in the Al-Shawka area, east of Rafah. The attack resulted in the deaths of Yousef Khaled Sheikh Al-Eid, Ibrahim Saadi Sheikh Al-Eid, and Bilal Ali Al-Maghari, while another officer sustained critical injuries.
In a separate strike, an Israeli drone attack killed Imad Hamdi Al-Sha’er in the Abu Halawa area of Al-Shawka, also east of Rafah.
The targeting of civil service personnel is part of a repeated pattern of Israeli attacks on essential institutions and their workers, constituting a blatant violation of international humanitarian law. The law explicitly prohibits attacks on individuals not engaged in combat, including police officers carrying out civilian duties to organise public affairs and ensure the safety of citizens.
International law also forbids assaults on personnel in service sectors during armed conflicts, particularly those responsible for maintaining civil security amid deteriorating humanitarian conditions. These attacks, therefore, represent a flagrant breach of international obligations that mandate the protection of such individuals.
The latest airstrikes come just a day after the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that the death toll in Gaza had risen to 48,264, the majority of whom are women and children, while the number of injured reached 111,688 since the start of the Israeli assault on 7 October 2023.
Between 7 October 2023 and 19 January 2025, the total number of killed and injured has exceeded 158,000, in addition to more than 14,000 missing persons, underscoring the staggering scale of human and infrastructural devastation caused by the ongoing attacks.
The persistence of Israeli aggression raises serious concerns about its commitment to ceasefire agreements, given the hundreds of violations recorded during supposed truce periods. This situation underscores the urgent need for decisive measures to halt these violations and establish accountability mechanisms to prevent further impunity for crimes against civilians.
