'Israel' aims to wreak havoc by targeting Gaza police: Ministry

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
20 May 2024 00:20
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Gaza's Interior Ministry says that the Israeli occupation seeks to spread chaos within Palestinian society by assassinating police forces in Gaza.

An Israeli airstrike kills six Palestinian police officers while securing an aid truck in Rafah, southern Gaza, in February 2024 (AFP)

The Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza condemned the Israeli assassination of the director of police for central Gaza, who was killed as part of the occupation's systemic killings of police forces in the Strip, to destabilize security and disrupt aid organization and distribution.

In a Sunday statement, the ministry said the occupation army assassinated Colonel Zaher al-Houli and his escort while they were conducting their police duty.

Additionally, it said that four more police officers were killed in an Israeli strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday night.

“The repeated targeting of police officers and members of the police service aims to spread chaos within Palestinian society,” the statement read.

“We reiterate that the police are a civilian body protected under international law and the assassination of police officers is unjustified.”

In March, the Israeli occupation assassinated Brigadier General Fayeq al-Mabhouh, who had been working with several local clans and UNRWA to coordinate aid entries into the besieged Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Media Office pointed out that al-Mabhouh was working purely under the civilian humanitarian framework, and he should have been protected instead of being targeted as per international law.

It explained that his assassination "further proves the occupation's determination to incite chaos, starvation, and preventing civilians from attaining aid and nutrition."

Similarly, the Resistance group Hamas affirmed then that the assassination aimed at "preventing the safe delivery of aid to our people."

"This terroristic crime, that targeted local police forces that are protected by international humanitarian law, is more proof of the Nazi enemy's attempts at inciting chaos, hitting societal security in the Gaza Strip, and prolonging the state of starvation our people are suffering from, in compliance with the displacement and genocide plans it has plotted against us," Hamas said in its statement.