Hamas accuses Israel of targeting police force as group tightens grip on Gaza
Group claims Israel hitting cops who are trying to maintain security and stability, which Jerusalem rejects, saying it targets terror operatives who pose active threat to its troops
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Israel has killed nearly a dozen Gaza police officers this week as it steps up attacks on the Hamas-run force that the terror group has used to re-establish governance in areas under its control, according to Hamas figures.
Hamas’s nearly 10,000 police officers have emerged as a major sticking point in talks to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza. Hamas views them as separate from its armed wing, which is expected to disarm under the plan, and wants them included in a new police force envisioned under the plan.
Israel completely rejects the involvement of any officers with Hamas affiliations and regards all elements of Hamas, including its police, as components of the terrorist organization.
Trump’s plan calls for the Islamist terror group to lay down its weapons and hand over governance to a committee of Palestinian technocrats who would manage Gaza’s police as Israeli troops withdraw. Talks on disarming Hamas have been delayed by the US-Israeli war with Iran, Reuters has reported.
Hamas takes precautions to protect its police
On the ground in Gaza, mostly unarmed officers dressed in navy police uniforms patrol the streets in the seafront sliver of Gaza where Hamas retained control under an October ceasefire following two years of war.
Officers could be seen directing traffic and patrolling markets and tent encampments in Gaza City on Monday.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, said Israel had killed more than 2,800 Gaza police officers since October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists launched their deadly invasion of southern Israel, triggering the war in Gaza
Dozens of Hamas police officers have been killed since the ceasefire, including at least 10 since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, Thawabta said.
To try to avoid more losses, he said, “operational orders and precautionary measures” had been issued “to reduce risks to police personnel, including reorganizing movements and deployments.” He gave no further details.
Israel says its attacks in Gaza that have struck and killed police officers have been aimed at eliminating threats to its troops from Hamas. Israeli troops remain deployed in the roughly 53% of Gaza under Israel’s control.
In Israel’s most recent strikes, Gaza medics said nine police officers were killed in an airstrike on a car in Zawayda in central Gaza on Sunday.
The bombed-out remnants of the car, stained with blood, were left on the street, surrounded by destroyed buildings.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had struck an armed Hamas cell that it said was planning to carry out an attack on Israeli troops, and that six people were killed.
צה"ל חיסל חוליית מחבלי חמאס שקידמה מתווה טרור נגד כוחותינו: חוסלו מחבלים שהשתתפו בטבח ה-7 באוקטובר
אתמול, זיהו כוחות צה״ל חוליית מחבלים חמושים מארגון הטרור חמאס, שתכננו לבצע מתווה טרור נגד כוחותינו.
צה״ל תקף וחיסל את המחבלים החמושים במטרה להסיר את האיום.
כעת ניתן לאשר כי בין… pic.twitter.com/da4w1c3CtE
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) March 16, 2026
Neither Hamas nor the IDF responded immediately to a request for comment on the discrepancy in the death figures.
‘Strikes aim to disrupt Hamas’ security efforts’
Palestinian political analyst Reham Owda said Israel’s attacks on Gaza police highlighted Israeli concerns about Hamas tightening its grip on Gaza in areas under its control.
“These strikes aim to disrupt Hamas’s security efforts in the territory and convey a clear message that Israel will not accept any expanded security role for Hamas within Gaza,” Owda told Reuters.
Israel has insisted that Hamas completely disarm and has warned that should it fail to do so, Israel will resume its military offensive to do so.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says at least 670 people have been killed by Israeli fire since the October ceasefire. Four IDF soldiers have been killed in Gaza in the same period.
On Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike killed a local armed Hamas commander, Mohammad Abu Shahla, in Khan Younis in the south, Hamas and medics said, and overnight, two men on a motorbike shot and wounded a senior Hamas police officer in Gaza City. Hamas blamed that attack on “Israeli collaborators.”
Israel did not immediately comment on the incidents.
Abdallah Al-Araisha, a Palestinian living in a tent encampment in Gaza City, said the police had been helping to fight crime and protect people across Gaza, where most of the population of over 2 million is internally displaced.
“Without the police, we would be ruined,” Araisha said.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.