Gaza’s public servants systematically targeted in Israeli strikes

Outlining “repeated attacks” and “routine targeting” of law enforcement personnel in Gaza, OHCHR said that they have been killed while directing traffic and patrolling streets and crowded markets.

This “systematic targeting” of key public institutions and workers has caused a collapse of civic and public order since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in Gaza on 7 October 2023, maintained Mayy El Sheikh, OHCHR spokesperson in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

Obligations ignored

“Israel as the occupying power actually has the obligation under international law to ensure civic and public order for Palestinians who live under the occupation… targeting them, unless they are directly participating in attacks or hostilities, would amount to war crimes,” she insisted.

Since January 2026, OHCHR has recorded at least 12 attacks against police, killing more than 53 civilians including 35 police personnel, five boys, and one woman. Four attacks were recorded in May alone, killing 12 police workers.

The UN office noted that the pattern of attacks raised concerns that Israeli forces apply “no distinction” between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza.

“Nearly eight months have passed since the announcement of a ceasefire, and there is no end in sight for the killings, the turmoil, and the misery,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The alleged incidents include:

• 23 May – Israeli strike on a police checkpoint in Al Tawam, Gaza City, killing at least five police officers and two others, including a boy.
• 24 April 2026 – Israeli drone strike on a police vehicle in Al Mawasi camp, west of Khan Younis, killing four police workers and four civilians, including a boy of nine.
• 31 January 2026 – Israeli airstrike on Ash Sheikh Radwan Police Station, Gaza City, killing 11 people, including five police officers and a boy.

The alert comes as Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe continues. Today, more than 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.4 million total living in the enclave have been uprooted by the war, many of them multiple times. At least 1.2 million of them have lost their homes, according to the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.

‘Suspended in a nightmare’

For many, the notional ceasefire between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military has not brought safety. Displacement orders continue to be issued “and Israeli forces in Gaza continue to destroy whatever is left of the built environment as well”, OHCHR’s Ms. El Sheikh told UN News.

“Gaza remains suspended in a nightmare that is difficult to reconcile with the existence of a ceasefire,” she maintained. “Palestinians in Gaza are living on a small fraction of the land, and they are encircled from all sides by Israeli ground forces that continue to push further into Palestinian communities and contract the space that is available to civilians.”