Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 2 people, first fatalities in more than a week

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians, including a senior police official, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, in the first reported fatalities in more than a week as the Israeli military scaled back its targeted attacks in the enclave under U.S. pressure.

Palestinian medics said the first strike targeted two people riding on a motorbike, in a western area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The other person was wounded, they added.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the Khan Younis airstrike targeted a Hamas commander.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli drone launched three missiles against a vehicle driving in western Gaza City, killing the head of the Gaza City police force, and critically wounding two other people medics and witnesses said.

The Hamas-led interior ministry also confirmed in a statement the "assassination" by Israel of police colonel Jamal Abu Kmail.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Israel had stepped up attacks on members of Gaza's police force since a nominal "cease-fire" began in October 2025, killing dozens of them, according to security and health officials.

Trump's 'plan' for Gaza

U.S. President Donald Trump announced last month that there had been a breakthrough in his plan for Gaza, ​to which both Israel and Hamas agreed, with Israeli forces withdrawing as Hamas disarms and an International Stabilization Force working with a new Palestinian police force to secure the enclave.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated his rejection of Trump's latest Gaza ​plan in televised remarks to his right-wing government, even as Israel's military had effectively halted attacks in the territory under pressure from ‌the U.S. president.

Hamas said it agreed to the plan to avoid a resumption of war, but it added ​that the implementation of ⁠the deal would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawal and halting attacks.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said in a statement that a man was hit in an aerial strike in order to remove a threat to Israeli military troops. Gaza medics said one person was critically wounded in the attack in Beit Lahiya town, in the north of the enclave.

Israel has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, since the U.S.-backed "cease-fire" was signed in October in an attempt to bring Israel's genocidal war to a halt.

Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period, according to an Israeli tally.