The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) strike on the Municipal Police headquarters yesterday afternoon in Gaza City. The strike killed eight police officers, including two female officers, as well as a girl who was playing in a nearby park, and injured 18 others. The attack came only a few hours after the arrest of a police officer and a security officer in the southern Gaza Strip.

This attack forms part of a systematic and recurring pattern of IOF targeting of police and security personnel responsible for maintaining public order in the Gaza Strip. It is also part of an escalating policy aimed at undermining what remains of the internal security system and creating a security vacuum that deepens the state of chaos and leaves civilians without protection, alongside the ongoing targeting of civilians, displacement tents, markets, and civilian gatherings across the Gaza Strip.

According to information collected by PCHR’s field researchers, at approximately 14:25 on Wednesday, 19 August 2026, an Israeli drone fired at least one missile at a room temporarily used as the Municipal Police headquarters in central Gaza City. The strike killed eight police personnel and a girl who happened to be in the Municipal Park at the time, while 18 others sustained injuries of varying degrees, several of them critical. The injured were transferred to the field hospital run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in al-Saraya area, while others were taken to al-Shifa Medical Complex for treatment.

Those killed were identified as: Brigadier Ayman Mahmoud Mohammed Jendiyah (47), acting Director of Gaza Governorate Police following the assassination of Colonel Jamal Abu Kmeil while he was inside his vehicle in southwestern Gaza City on 13 August 2026; Colonel Osama Hashem Isma’il al-Hajin (43), and Director of Operations at Gaza Governorate Police; Colonel Ibrahim ‘Abdel Rahman Khalil Temraz (50); Major ‘Othman Shehtah Rashid Abu Sama’an (42); Colonel ‘Alaa Ali Shehadah ‘Elian (50); Lieutenant Colonel Hazem Jaber Khalaf (52); Lieutenant Colonel Fatenah ‘Abdel Jabbar Ibrahim al-Sahhar (45), Director of the Women’s Police Department; Lieutenant Samaher Misbah ‘Abdel Hadi Hamadah “al-‘Ejel” (38); and Dana Haitham ‘Omran al-Jmasi (13), a girl who was in the adjacent Municipal Park at the time of the strike.

Earlier that day, at approximately 01:45, an IOF special force accompanied by police dogs infiltrated the al-Iqlimi Park area, southwest of al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, and arrested two people identified as Sabri ‘Atwah Shehdah ‘Abdel ‘Aal (46), a police officer, and Nashat Mostafa Soliman Zo’arob (34), an employee of al-Aqsa Security Company for Guarding and Logistic Services. They were taken to an unknown destination.

Previously, PCHR documented tens of attacks by IOF targeting police officers and headquarters, including an Israeli drone strike at around 12:35 on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, with three missiles at least on a Palestinian Police point in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza strip. the Strike killed six police officers and a civilian woman and injured several others from the police and civilians. The killed were identified as Colonel Mohammed Merwan Mohammed Salem, Director of Jabalia Camp Police Station; Major Mufid Mohammed ‘Abdel Mawla Halawah; Lieutenants Ghassan Akram Salama al-Deqes, Ibrahim Faisal Hassan Mousa and Sameeh Ramadan ‘Ali al-Aswad; Police Assistant ‘Abdel Malik Nasser ‘Abdel Malik Abu al-Jibein; and civilian Suzan Yousif Suleiman Abu Hindi al-A’araj.

The IOF’s repeated targeting of police and security personnel at police posts or while carrying out their duties related to maintaining public order indicates that Israel is pursuing a deliberate policy of excluding civilian institutions responsible for internal security and the organization of daily life. This directly affects the civilian population’s ability to access even the minimum level of security and basic services. By doing so, Israel creates conditions conducive to the spread of chaos and reinforces the activities of illegal armed militias operating in cooperation with the IOF, serving Israeli policies aimed at dismantling the Palestinian social fabric and perpetuating a state of humanitarian collapse in the Gaza Strip.

In this regard, it should be noted that the escalating attacks on police come at a time when several neighborhoods across the Gaza Strip are witnessing an increase in family disputes, alongside police efforts to contain and control them. This raises concerns that the targeting of police aims to undermine their ability to maintain security, perpetuate a state of chaos, and deepen internal disputes.

PCHR emphasizes that police personnel performing civilian duties related to maintaining security, public order, and the daily affairs of the population are afforded special protection under international humanitarian law, provided that they do not take a direct part in hostilities, and that targeting them in this manner constitutes a grave violation of these rules.

PCHR reiterates its call on the international community to take immediate and effective measures to halt the ongoing violations against civilians, end the targeting of civilian institutions and internal security personnel, ensure accountability for Israeli leaders responsible for crimes committed, and take concrete steps to provide immediate international protection to civilians in the Gaza Strip.