OAN Staff Blake Wolf
6:12pm – Thursday, January 2, 2025
Hamas announced the news on Thursday after Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip reportedly claimed the lives of the group's police chief and deputy chief.
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Hamas claimed that its top police officer, Mahmoud Salah, and his deputy, Hassam Shawan, were reportedly killed in an attack inside a “humanitarian zone” designated by the IDF. Eleven other people are reported to have lost their lives.
In addition to Salah and Shahwan, “11 people were martyred and 15 others injured due to tent bombing by occupation aircraft,” the Gaza Civil Defense Agency said.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry continued to condemn the “assassination” of two Hamas leaders. Gaza's interior ministry also accused Israel of “spreading chaos” and “deepening human suffering” by ordering the attacks on Salah and Shahwan.
“The occupation continues to spread chaos in the Strip by carrying out assassinations, deepening the human suffering of the population,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, the IDF similarly acknowledged the killing of Shahwan, but did not mention Salah, saying instead that he was “hiding under civilian protection in the humanitarian zone of Khan Yunis.”
The IDF went on to explain that Shawan was Hamas's international security chief and participated in planning attacks against Israeli forces and “gross human rights violations” of Palestinian civilians.
“Hassam Shahwan was responsible for developing intelligence assessments in coordination with Hamas's military wing for attacks on the IDF in the Gaza Strip,” the IDF continued, adding that the IDF was not able to prevent harm to civilians in the area in advance. It said it had taken “a number of steps” to avoid this. strike.
The war first broke out after the deadly Hamas attack on October 7th.thIn 2023, at least 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were kidnapped.
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