Israeli strikes kill Gaza's police chief, dozens of other Palestinians

Israel struck a declared humanitarian zone in southern Gaza overnight, which rescuers have said killed the head of the territory's police force, his deputy and nine others.

The civil defence agency in Gaza said on Thursday that two other Israeli strikes elsewhere in the territory killed 14 Palestinians.

The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out the overnight strike on the area of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, which it said targeted deputy police chief Hussam Shahwan.

The civil defence agency said Shahwan was among 11 people killed in the strike, which according to the rescuers and authorities in Gaza also left the commander of the police force, Mahmud Salah, dead.

"Eleven people were martyred, including three children and two women, and 15 were injured after the (Israeli) occupation aircraft bombed a tent housing displaced people in the Al Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis city in southern Gaza," said a civil defence statement.

Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the agency, said the two senior police officers were among the dead.

Ambulance driver Saleem Abu Subha said rescuers "found the injured lying on the ground, most of them children, as well as two female martyrs" at the site of the strike.

"About 10 tents were damaged, and scattered fires were visible," he said.

Deepening 'the human suffering'

The territory's interior ministry condemned in a statement the killing of the two top officers, saying "they were performing their humanitarian and national duty in serving our people".

It accused Israel of spreading "chaos" and deepening "the human suffering" in Gaza with the deadly strike.

"The police force is a civil protection force that works to provide services to citizens," the ministry statement said.

Nearly 15 months of war have devastated the besieged Gaza's infrastructure and institutions, with aid agencies warning of the breakdown of social order.

The Interior Ministry said Salah spent 30 years in the force and was appointed police chief six years ago.

Elsewhere in Gaza, the civil defence agency said a strike on Jabalia, in the north, killed at least 10 people.

It came a day after Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened to intensify strikes on Palestine's Gaza.