Hamas denies it is trying to carry out attacks and rebuild arsenal, accuses Israel of undermining Gaza peace deal
People gather as Civil Defence workers attempt to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble of a residential building that had been damaged in an earlier Israeli strike during the war and collapsed on Wednesday, in Gaza City, September 16, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS
Israeli strikes killed at least eight Palestinians, including five police officers, in the Gaza Strip in two separate attacks on Sunday, according to medics and the Hamas-run interior ministry.
Medics said three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. The interior ministry said the five police officers were killed in another strike in western Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.
The Israeli military said it struck several militants in Khan Younis, without giving further information. It did not immediately comment on the Gaza City strike.
Read: 2 Palestinians killed in Israel’s ongoing violations of Gaza ceasefire
Israel, which says Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of a year-old ceasefire, has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks.
Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal and accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal.
Last year’s US-brokered ceasefire calls for eventual reconstruction of the territory. But little progress has been made as negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm or Israel to withdraw its troops, who control about two-thirds of the territory where they have ordered residents out.
Read More: Israel continues to commit Gaza genocide: UN
Nearly all of the more than 2 million residents live in the remaining third of the enclave among war ruins, mostly in makeshift tents and damaged buildings, still under effective control of Hamas.
At least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the ceasefire, according to the territory’s health officials, while Israel says four soldiers have been killed.
Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza, launched after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
