Israeli Strikes Kill Two in Gaza

PHOTO CAPTION: Mourners react at the funeral of a Palestinian man Huthaifa Kawari, who was killed in an Israeli strike, according to medics, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, August 13, 2026. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

CAIRO, Aug. 13 — An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians, including a senior police official, in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian medics said, marking the first reported fatalities in more than a week as Israel’s military had scaled back targeted attacks in the enclave under U.S. pressure.

Medics said the first strike hit two people riding a motorbike in a western area of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, killing one person and wounding the other. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a Hamas commander who was planning an attack on Israeli troops.

Later on Thursday, an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a vehicle in western Gaza City, killing the head of the Gaza City police force and critically wounding two other people, medics and witnesses said. The Hamas-led interior ministry said police colonel Jamal Abu Kmail had been “assassinated” by Israel. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on that strike.

Israel has stepped up attacks on members of the Hamas-led police force since an October ceasefire began, killing dozens of them, according to security and health officials.

President Donald Trump said last month there had been a breakthrough in his plan to end the war, under which Israeli forces would withdraw as Hamas disarms and an International Stabilization Force would work with a new Palestinian police force to help secure the enclave. Israel and Hamas have both agreed to the broader plan, but they remain at odds over how it would be implemented.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of Trump’s latest Gaza plan in televised remarks to his right-wing government, even as Israel’s military had effectively halted attacks in the territory under pressure from the U.S. president. Hamas said it had agreed to the plan to avoid a resumption of war, but said implementation would depend on Israel first meeting its own commitments, including withdrawal and halting attacks.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said a man was hit in an aerial strike in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza in order to remove a threat to Israeli troops. Gaza medics said one person was critically wounded in that strike.

Israeli fire has killed more than 1,250 Palestinians in Gaza since a U.S.-backed ceasefire halted two years of full-scale war in October, with most of the dead reported to be civilians. It is unclear how many of those killed were militants because Hamas does not usually disclose information about dead fighters. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants in Gaza over the same period, according to an Israeli tally.

(Source: Reuters)