GAZA CITY: An Israeli strike on the municipal police headquarters in Gaza City killed nine people on Wednesday.
Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory have continued despite a ceasefire brokered by the United States in October 2025 between Israel and Hamas.
Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital reported the arrival of nine bodies, including a woman and a girl, and at least 20 wounded after the Gaza strike.
The territory’s civil defence agency confirmed the toll.
Israel admits to firing on five-year-old Hind Rajab’s car which independent forensic investigations confirmed was struck by up to 355 bullets
The Israeli military claimed the strike on the police head-quarters targeted a Hamas commander who it asserted had planned to carry out attacks against troops in the territory.
Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem condemned the Israel strike, terming it complete disregard for all calls for a ceasefire.
Israel admits to firing on Hind Rajab’s car
The Israeli military on Wednesday admitted its troops fired on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing which drew international outrage and condemnation.
Hind Rajab’s body was recovered from a car riddled with bullets in Gaza City days after she was last heard from in a desperate, hours-long phone call to the Palestinian Red Crescent on January 29, 2024.
Independent forensic investigations confirmed that the car carrying 5-year-old Hind Rajab was struck by up to 355 bullets. Her body, along with those of six family members, was recovered 12 days after the January 2024 attack in Gaza City.
The Israeli military had previously denied its troops were present in the area near the incident.
“Following review of the findings and due to alleged failures in the coordination of the movement of the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance, it has been decided to initiate a criminal investigation of the incident by Military Police Criminal Investigation Division,” the military said on Wednesday.
Alongside the Hind Rajab case, the military published reviews into four other high-profile incidents in Gaza, saying it was also launching a criminal probe into the 2025 killings of 15 Palestinians including medics and humanitarian personnel.
Hind Rajab had made the emergency call after her family’s car came under fire during an attempt to flee Gaza City amid an Israeli troops’ advance in the Palestinian territory’s north.
Her death sparked international outrage and calls for an independent investigation, and the original audio recordings of her emergency call were incorporated into the Oscar-nominated feature film “The Voice of Hind Rajab”.
Upon publishing its review into the incident on Wednesday, the Israeli military asserted its findings indicated troops had “fired at a vehicle that was approaching them while travelling contrary to the advance notice” that had been given to residents in the area.
“As a result of the fire, five of the vehicle’s passengers were killed, and two survived: Hind Rajab and her cousin Layan Hamada,” it said.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Brussels-based legal organisation seeking to address Israeli violations in Gaza, said it had “no confidence” in the move by the Israeli military.
“These reported investigations, even if they do occur, should not be mistaken for a genuine step toward justice,” it said in a statement, adding that Israel’s internal investigations were “fundamentally flawed and cannot be regarded as credible mechanisms of accountability”.
Rights groups seek release of Palestinian-American
More than 100 US organisations have called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to act “urgently” to secure the release of Palestinian-American student Sama Safi, who has been detained in Israel for over two months.
Israeli forces arrested Safi, a 20- year-old psychology student from the occupied West Bank, on June 2, along with two other students and a graduate of the university.
Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2026
