Head of Gaza militia claims killing of senior Hamas cop

An anti-Hamas militia claimed responsibility on Monday for killing a senior Hamas police officer in southern Gaza.

Hussam al-Astal, the leader of an anti-Hamas group based in an area under Israeli control east of Khan Younis, claimed responsibility for the killing of Lt. Col. Mahmoud al-Astal in a video he posted on his Facebook page. The last name he shares with the dead man, al-Astal, is common in that part of Gaza.

“We announce today the assassination of the head of investigations in Khan Younis,” the head of the group said in a video message posted to his Facebook page. He threatened to keep targeting Hamas officials and pointed to guns and ammunition that he said are spoils of his militia’s battles.

Pointing to a faint red stain on a semi-automatic rifle, he says, “This is blood of the Hamas dogs and pigs.”

“To those who work with Hamas, your destiny is to be killed. Death is coming to you,” he adds, dressed in a black military-style uniform and clutching an assault rifle.

The video claim came just a few hours after Hamas’s interior ministry announced that the police officer in question had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Mawasi, near Khan Younis, with shots fired from a car occupied by “agents of the Israeli occupation.”

Hamas said that Mahmoud al-Astal, 40, was the Khan Younis police investigations chief. The interior ministry claimed, without providing evidence, that an initial investigation indicated that his killers, who had not been caught, worked for Israel.

“The security apparatus has launched an investigation into the incident and is working to apprehend the perpetrators,” the ministry said.

أعلن حسام الأسطل، الضابط السابق في قوات الأمن التابعة للسلطة الفلسطينية، والذي يقود مجموعة مسلحة تنشط ضد حركة "حماس" في قطاع غزة، مسؤوليته عن اغتيال مدير مباحث شرطة خان يونس، وهو ضابط برتبة مقدّم يُدعى محمود أحمد الأسطل (40 عاما)، ويعد من أبرز قيادات الحركة في القطاع، وذلك قرب… pic.twitter.com/3GfEzEP3Ri

— Asharq News الشرق للأخبار (@AsharqNews) January 12, 2026

An IDF official told Reuters that the army was not aware of any operations in the area.

The killing comes a month after Hamas claimed that Israeli-backed assassins shot dead Lt. Col. Ahmed Zamzam in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

The emergence of armed anti-Hamas groups, though still small and localized, has added pressure on the Islamists and could complicate efforts to stabilize and unify a divided Gaza, shattered by two years of war.

These groups remain unpopular among the local population as they operate in areas under Israeli control, although they publicly deny they take Israeli orders. Hamas has publicly executed people it accuses of collaboration.

Under a ceasefire in place since October, Israel has withdrawn from nearly half of the Gaza Strip, but its troops remain in control of the other half, largely a wasteland where virtually all buildings have been leveled.

Nearly all of the territory’s two million people now live in Hamas-held areas, mostly in makeshift tents or damaged buildings, where the group has been reasserting its grip. Four Hamas sources said it continues to command thousands of fighters despite suffering heavy losses during the war.

Israel has been allowing rivals of Hamas to operate in areas it controls. In later phases, US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza calls for Israel to withdraw further and for Hamas to yield power to an internationally backed administration, but there has so far been no progress towards those steps.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged Israeli backing for anti-Hamas groups in June of last year, saying that Israel had “activated” clans, but has given few details since then.

The ceasefire has ended major combat in Gaza over the past three months, but both sides have accused the other of regular violations. According to figures provided by Hamas, more than 440 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the truce took effect. Three IDF soldiers have also been killed in the Strip in the same period.