The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the ongoing escalation of killings and direct attacks carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against civilians and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip, including repeated attacks targeting police and security personnel while performing their civilian duties, as well as attacks on gatherings of people and tents sheltering displaced persons in densely populated areas overcrowded with residents and displaced families.

PCHR emphasizes that the civilian police apparatus, in all its branches and formations, constitutes civilian objects protected under the rules of international humanitarian law, as they are institutions entrusted with maintaining public order, safeguarding the lives of civilians, and regulating their daily affairs. International law prohibits the targeting of civilian police personnel or their headquarters unless they directly participate in hostilities, which the Israeli occupation authorities have failed to establish in any of the repeated attacks carried out against them.

Since Israel’s widescale offensive on the Gaza Strip in 2008, the IOF (IOF) have persistently and systematically targeted police headquarters, civilian police apparatuses, and their personnel. This forms part of a calculated policy aimed at undermining civilian infrastructure and perpetuating fear and panic among the civilian population. This pattern of attacks has significantly escalated in recent months, particularly following attempts to rehabilitate parts of the police apparatus and resume their operations, even at a minimal level, in order to meet the population’s basic security and humanitarian needs amid the extensive collapse affecting the Gaza Strip’s institutions as a result of the ongoing genocide.

According to PCHR’s field documentation, over the past three days, deadly attacks have been recorded, resulting in the killing and injury of civilians, including children and police personnel.

Among the most significant incidents documented by PCHR’s field researchers:

At approximately 20:30 on Wednesday, 6 May 2026, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a people gathered in front of al-Sahaba Building on al-Wehda Street in al-Daraj neighborhood, Gaza City. The attack resulted in the killing of Hamza Ayman Mohammad Al-Shorbasi (26), and the injury of several others with varying degrees of wounds. One of the injured later succumbed to his wounds on Thursday, 7 May 2026; he was identified as ‘Azzam Khalil Ismail al-Hayyah (31).

At approximately 18:45 on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted tents sheltering displaced people inside al-Safadi land on Keshko Street in Al-Zaitoun neighborhood, Gaza City, where several families from the Keshko family had erected tents near their destroyed homes. The attack resulted in the killing of three people, including a child: Muhammad Taysir Ziyad Keshko (15), Mohammad Fathi Hamdan Keshko (43), and Hamdan Mohammad Fahmi Keshko (20), in addition to injuries among others with varying degrees of severity.

According to field investigations conducted by PCHR’s researchers, the victims were digging a pit to collect sewage and wastewater near their tents when they were directly targeted by the drone.

At approximately 16:10 on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted a civilian “Tucson” SUV near the Applied University College of Science and Technology, southwest of Khan Younis, in an area densely populated with displaced people. The attack resulted in the killing of Naseem Suleiman Hassan al-Kalzani (57), and the injury of approximately 22 others with varying degrees of wounds.

According to field information obtained by PCHR’s researcher, al-Kalzani, who served as Director of the Crossings and Ports Department in the Anti-Narcotics Police, was travelling in the vehicle with two other persons while on a social visit to a local notable at the time of the attack.

At approximately 16:25 on Tuesday, 5 May 2026, an Israeli drone fired a missile at a temporary police point established beside the destroyed Sheikh Radwan Police Station near Bahloul Station in al-Nasr neighborhood, Gaza City. The attack resulted in the killing of the Mahmoud Muhammad Mahmoud Sahweil (14), and the injury of several civilians, including two police officers, with injuries ranging from moderate to serious.

The child Sahweil was selling bread to help his family meet its basic needs, and he happened to be present in the area at the time of the attack.

At approximately 14:10 on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle travelled by ‘Awni Sami ‘Omar Hasaballah (25) near the Kuwait Roundabout in al-Zaitoun neighborhood, Gaza City, killing him instantly and injuring three passersby with varying degrees of wounds.

At approximately 01:35 at dawn on the same day, an Israeli drone targeted a gathering of security personnel at al-Ayoun intersection on al-Jalaa’ Street in Gaza City. The attack resulted in the killing of Mohammad Jamal al-Ghandour (38), who was a lieutenant colonel in the Internal Security Service of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza, and the injury of another person with serious wounds.

At approximately 13:55 on Monday, 4 May 2026, an Israeli drone targeted a group of people on Street 10 in Al-Zeitoun neighborhood, Gaza City, resulting in the killing of Yehia Mousa Yehia al-A’araj (20), and the injury of several others with varying degrees of wounds.

PCHR emphasizes that the targeting of civilian security officers and law enforcement personnel responsible for maintaining public order, as well as the targeting of civilians and tents sheltering displaced persons, constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and military necessity. It further stresses that the targeting of personnel while performing their civilian duties and services amid their presence in places of shelter, amounts to war crimes that require international accountability.

PCHR emphasizes that the IOF’s ongoing widescale killings and targeting of civilians, combined with the continuing policies of siege, starvation, and restrictions on movement, constitute a complementary pattern of acts that may amount to the crime of genocide under international law, in particular the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

PCHR calls for the immediate cessation of all attacks targeting civilians and civilian objects in the Gaza Strip, the lifting of all restrictions on the movement of persons, and the full respect for the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles of distinction and military necessity. It further calls for the activation of accountability mechanisms for these crimes, the prosecution of those responsible, and an end to impunity.