Gaza- In recent weeks, the Israeli occupation has escalated its targeting of members of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza, most recently last Tuesday, June 4, when its missiles assassinated 8 police officers in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
On May 27, the occupation army assassinated 3 members while they were carrying out their work in the Nuseirat camp, and coinciding with a campaign to control security and markets in the city of Deir al-Balah launched by the police. On May 19, the occupation army assassinated the director of the Central Governorate Police Investigations, Colonel Zaher al-Houli. .
Observers believe that Israel is continuing with its plans to create a state of chaos and security chaos inside the Gaza Strip, by continuing to target the police force in particular.
The occupation has assassinated a number of Gaza police commanders and officers since yesterday in the center and north of the Strip and before that in the south, and recently targeted the committees working to ensure that aid reaches the hungry in the north.
The occupation is striving to establish chaos and undermine security in all its forms as part of the war of genocide and starvation that it is waging against…
– Radwan Al-Akhras (@rdooan) March 19, 2024
Systematic targeting
The Ministry of Interior says in a series of statements, seen by Tel Aviv Tribune Net, that “the police is a civil body protected under international law, and that the occupation’s assassination of its officers and members comes without any justification, other than that they are carrying out their service and humanitarian duty towards citizens.”
An official security source in the Gaza Strip confirms that Israel has systematically targeted the police since the beginning of the war, on October 7, according to a plan that seeks to cause a “security collapse” within society.
The source, who refused to reveal his identity due to the sensitivity of his position, added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net that Israeli targeting increases whenever the police begin implementing plans aimed at controlling the security situation and fighting chaos, and that the occupation army is implementing a plan that seeks to dismantle the security system inside Gaza, by targeting leaders and officers. And members of the police force, which maintain security and protect the home front.
The occupation also focused – according to the security source – on targeting police officers while they were securing food and medical aid vehicles coming to the Gaza Strip, “in clear evidence of its endeavor to create an environment conducive to stealing, looting, and spreading chaos.”
He pointed out that the police are a civil body according to international laws, and it is prohibited to be targeted by the occupation, and he acknowledged that the occupation policy “led to the spread of chaos in some places, and exposed citizens to danger as a result of some internal security incidents.”
He stated that the Israeli attacks greatly hindered the work of the police, which forced them to work according to alternative emergency plans.
Violation of international law
Despite the continued “criminal” Israeli targeting, the responsible security source stressed that the police force will continue its work in controlling the security situation, preventing its deterioration, and fighting chaos. He stressed that they have great flexibility for this, and reassured citizens that they will do their best despite the severe risks they are exposed to on a daily basis.
For his part, Mustafa Ibrahim, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Addameer Foundation for Human Rights, believes that Israel’s targeting of the police comes within the implementation of its declared plan to eliminate the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and its authoritarian and civil apparatus.
Ibrahim told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that Israel is continuing its attempts to eliminate the police force in Gaza, even though targeting it violates international law and the Geneva Convention, which it considers a civil body.
He added, “The police are a civilian body, and their members are not fighters. They are individuals who maintain the rule of law and control security. What Israel is doing is contrary to international law, which calls for their protection and not their killing.”
According to human rights activist Ibrahim, by striking the police, Israel seeks to “create a state of chaos and security chaos,” in an attempt to push the population to accept any alternative to the Hamas movement after the war.
He warned that the state of chaos sought by Israel is dangerous, threatens the Palestinian social fabric, and may lead to its fragmentation, spread crime, and create “negative” phenomena that did not exist.
private – #Tel Aviv Tribune | The house of the director of the investigations agency in the north #Gaza Raed Al-Banna, responsible for securing the entry of humanitarian aid into #Jabalia And her camp, and he was martyred with his family as a result of an Israeli bombing that targeted their house last night#Gaza_War #video pic.twitter.com/vpkxjkPikK
– Tel Aviv Tribune Palestine (@AJA_Palestine) March 19, 2024
Spreading chaos
In the opinion of writer and political analyst Wissam Afifa, the occupation focuses its attacks on the police force whenever campaigns begin to control security and combat chaos.
Afifa told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that this matter was repeated more than once, the most recent of which was last month, when the occupation assassinated the director of investigations for the Central Gaza Strip Governorate, Zaher Al-Houli, after he began a campaign to control security in the city that received large numbers of displaced people from Rafah.
He recalled that over the past months, the occupation launched many attacks on police officers and members in Rafah, when it was hosting hundreds of thousands of residents, with the aim of preventing it from organizing their affairs and controlling security.
He also referred to the Israeli attacks on the police in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, especially when they worked to protect relief aid from looting and robbery.
Afifa added, “It is clear that the occupation is monitoring and following up, and is very keen to block any case of security control, with the aim of deepening the crisis of the people in Gaza.”
The mercenary army assassinated 3 police officers in 24 hours, a plan to cause chaos and disrupt arrangements for securing aid in the northern Gaza Strip.
Brigadier General Faiq Al-Mabhouh, Director of Operations for the Police in Gaza.
Lieutenant Colonel Mahmoud Al-Bayoumi, Director of the Nuseirat Police Station.
Lieutenant Colonel Raed Al-Banna, Director of the Investigation Service in northern Gaza.
May God have mercy on them and accept them as martyrs pic.twitter.com/bxEwLWhv8u– ali saada (@alisaada2) March 20, 2024
He agreed with human rights activist Ibrahim that striking the police force is one of the goals of the Israeli war, which seeks to eliminate the Hamas movement and its agencies, and to spread chaos, with the aim of pushing the population to accept any alternative government to Hamas, on what is known as “the day after the war.”
Despite the occupation’s success in “significantly disrupting the work of the police force,” Afifa believes that it still maintains the minimum level of security control and that the situation does not collapse, especially in areas that are not witnessing a ground invasion by the occupying army.
He adds that after each wave, there are attempts by the police to renew their roles to control the security situation, even if at a minimum, and by using new methods, such as not wearing the police uniform, or seeking the help of volunteers, or recruiting new elements and expanding the state of community participation in controlling the security situation.