Gaza police deaths and a reported Israeli policy on Hamas officials show who-governs gap as plan stalls

An Israeli drone strike killed five Gaza police officers in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis on Sunday, and a sixth died of his wounds later, according to Gaza's Interior Ministry and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The Israeli military said it had struck "several militants" in Khan Younis. A day later, an Israeli news report said the defense establishment had decided to spare Hamas-run mayors and senior municipal officials, out of concern that killing them would leave Gaza without any civil order.

Together, the two reports show the central unresolved question of Gaza's ceasefire: who governs the territory. More than a year after the October 2025 truce, a Palestinian technocratic committee meant to run Gaza has not entered it. An international stabilization force has not deployed. Hamas remains armed. And the Palestinian Authority, which wants a role, has postponed its own elections to September 2027.

The strike in Khan Younis

The Interior Ministry, which is run by Hamas, named the five officers killed on Sunday as Lt. Col. Mohammad Zakariya al-Jamal, Maj. Bassam Ne'mat Meqdad, First Sgt. Mohammad Amin al-Nims, and police assistants Shaher Mohammad Zorob and Mohammad Ali Abu Shaar, Sawa news agency reported. The ministry said they were killed while on duty. It called the strike a crime and said 75 police officers and personnel had been killed since the ceasefire took effect.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, a Gaza-based rights group, said the strike came at about 11:29 a.m. local time (4:29 a.m. ET) on a group of officers on duty in southern Khan Younis. It said a sixth officer, Yousif Mohammed Hamed Abu Younis, 44, later died of his injuries. By its count, 76 police officers have been killed since the ceasefire.

The Israeli military gave few details. It "insisted that it struck several militants in Khan Yunis," Reuters reported. Israel says Hamas has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of the ceasefire, and has stepped up strikes in recent weeks. Hamas denies trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal, and accuses Israel of undermining the peace deal, Reuters said.

Two views of Gaza's police

Israel and Gaza's authorities describe the police in opposite terms.

Israel treats Hamas's security bodies as part of the group's armed apparatus. In July, the military and the Shin Bet security service announced the killing of the head of Hamas's internal security service. "Hamas's internal security apparatus is a central and clandestine body within the Hamas terrorist organization," they said, according to JNS. In the same statement the army said another strike had killed a man it described as a commander in Hamas's "police" and a deputy platoon commander in its military wing.

Gaza's authorities say the police are a civil force. The Interior Ministry said the force performs civil and legal duties to protect citizens, Sawa reported. Gaza's Government Media Office has accused Israel of deliberately pushing the territory toward chaos by striking police and other civil employees, the Palestinian Information Center reported. Four days before the police strike, a strike in Rafah killed employees of the Ministry of Economy who were inspecting goods, the outlet said.

The UN has weighed in on the legal question. In June, the UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory said it had recorded at least 12 attacks on police since January 2026, killing at least 35 police personnel. "Under international humanitarian law, police personnel are civilians who are protected against attack, unless and for such time as they directly participate in hostilities," the office said. It said attacks on police "simply for performing ordinary law enforcement and policing functions would amount to war crimes." Ajith Sunghay, who heads the office, said "the systematic targeting and dismantling of public governance institutions has created chaos with devastating impact on civilians."

Israel has not publicly identified the officers killed on Sunday as fighters. Gaza's authorities have not addressed the Israeli claim that the people hit were militants. Neither account could be independently verified.

A reported policy on Hamas civil officials

On Monday, the Israeli news site Walla reported that the defense establishment is sparing mayors and senior municipal officials within Hamas's political apparatus, according to All Israel News, which summarized the report. The reasoning, according to the report, is that killing them could create a power vacuum and lead to fighting between armed clans and groups.

The same report said Israel opposes letting the Palestinian Authority into Gaza, citing alleged support for terrorism and corruption. It said the military and the Shin Bet carry out two to three targeted strikes a day against people they accuse of taking part in the October 7 attack, preparing new attacks or rebuilding Hamas's forces. The report also said Hamas's political wing keeps control of the population through arrests of dissidents, intimidation and coercive taxes. Israel's government and military have not publicly confirmed the reported policy.

The report creates a distinction that Israel has not spelled out in public. Under it, Hamas's municipal leaders would be left in place to keep services running, while its security bodies, including at least some police, remain targets.

The plan that has not arrived

Under U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza plan, a group of Palestinian technocrats called the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza was to take over civil administration for a transition period. All Israel News said the committee has not entered Gaza because Hamas has not handed over its weapons. The International Stabilization Force, meant to provide security, has not deployed for the same reason.

Talks on the plan's next phase have stalled, Ynet reported on Monday. It reported that Hamas is refusing to disarm and is rebuilding its strength, and that Israel's post-election deadlock is complicating decisions, because Israeli officials do not know what their government's Gaza policy will be. Ynet also reported that an Israeli company working for the Board of Peace, the international body overseeing parts of the reconstruction, is expected to take over a tunnel-sealing project in Rafah from the army within two weeks.

Army Radio reported Monday that U.S. officials are pressing Israel to move forward despite Hamas's failure to disarm, All Israel News said. According to that report, Washington wants pardons for some Hamas operatives and procedures for handing over weapons inside Gaza.

Hamas's position on its weapons

Hamas has said it will not give up its weapons on Israel's terms. All Israel News reported that the group says it will hand over weapons only to a Palestinian government. In July, Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad set out the group's conditions in an interview with Al Jazeera. "Hamas will not implement any measures related to placing weapons under centralized control or storing them before the occupation withdraws from the Gaza Strip," he said, according to ILKHA. He said Israel would have no role in managing any weapons, which would instead go to a Palestinian national committee.

Israel's position, as described by Ynet, is that Hamas is using the ceasefire to rebuild its military capabilities. Israeli officials also expect Hamas to run a public campaign over winter conditions in Gaza, Ynet reported. In a post on X on Monday, the Israeli military said four Hamas members it had killed in separate strikes "operated to restore Hamas' capabilities, in systematic violation of the ceasefire," All Israel News reported.

Where the Palestinian Authority stands

The Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, says it wants Gaza included in a single Palestinian political system. On Monday, its vice president, Hussein al-Sheikh, met France's special envoy for the State of Palestine, André Parant. They discussed preparing conditions for the coming legislative and presidential elections, with voting in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, according to the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. Al-Sheikh urged France to build on its recognition of a Palestinian state, and the two discussed support for reform and Palestinian institutions. Fatah Central Committee member Laila Ghannam also attended.

Those elections were pushed back last month. On October 10, President Mahmoud Abbas set presidential and legislative elections for September 11, 2027, canceling a legislative vote planned for November 28, 2026, WAFA reported. The decree cited "the failure to implement arrangements for deploying international stabilization forces and police forces" under UN Security Council Resolution 2803. It also cited the incomplete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and Israeli restrictions on election staff and observers.

So the same gap that leaves Gaza's police in dispute also delays the PA's plans. Without an agreed security force, there is no handover from Hamas, no technocratic committee on the ground and, by the PA's own account, no conditions for a vote in Gaza.

1. October 10, 2025The U.S.-brokered ceasefire takes effect in Gaza
2. June 3, 2026UN Human Rights says police are civilians unless they take direct part in hostilities
3. July 2026Israel says it killed the head of Hamas's internal security service
4. October 10, 2026Abbas sets Palestinian elections for September 11, 2027
5. November 1, 2026A strike in Khan Younis kills five police officers; a sixth dies later
6. November 2, 2026Walla reports Israel is sparing Hamas municipal officials; Ynet reports the talks are stalled

Source: WAFA, UN Human Rights, JNS, Sawa, All Israel News

What we don't know

Several points remain unclear. It is not known who the Israeli military believes it struck on Sunday, or on what evidence. The reported policy on Hamas municipal officials has not been confirmed by Israel's government. It is unclear which body, if any, will take over Gaza's police if the stabilization force deploys. And it is not known how Israel's next government will approach the U.S. plan.

What comes next

Israel's coalition talks will shape its Gaza policy. See our latest coalition report, our guide to Herzog's timetable and our final count report. In the West Bank, the PA has just taken back control of parts of Hebron after an Israeli operation, as covered in our Hebron report. Inside Israel, the dispute over police powers is also before the High Court, as covered in our Ben Gvir report.

Differing perspectives

How should Gaza's police and civil administration be treated while Hamas remains armed?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Apply the civilian protection rule to police personnel

  Who holds it: The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory

  The UN Human Rights Office in the occupied Palestinian territory says police are civilians under international humanitarian law unless, and for such time as, they directly take part in hostilities. It says attacking police simply for ordinary law enforcement would amount to war crimes, and that dismantling public institutions has created chaos with devastating impact on civilians.

  In their words: UN Human Rights OPT ↗

• Build a single Palestinian system through elections and a stabilization force

  Who holds it: President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority and the PLO Executive Committee

  The Palestinian Authority says Gaza must be part of one Palestinian political system. President Abbas's decree setting elections for September 2027 cited the failure to deploy international stabilization and police forces under UN Security Council Resolution 2803, along with the incomplete Israeli withdrawal. The PA wants conditions for voting in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

  In their words: WAFA ↗

• Hand weapons only to a Palestinian body after withdrawal

  Who holds it: Hamas, including negotiator Ghazi Hamad

  Hamas negotiator Ghazi Hamad said in July that the group would not put its weapons under central control or store them before Israeli forces leave Gaza. He said Israel would have no role in managing any weapons, which would go to a Palestinian national committee. On this view, any handover of weapons depends first on a full Israeli withdrawal and must stay in Palestinian hands.

  In their words: ILKHA ↗

• Treat Hamas security bodies as part of its armed apparatus

  Who holds it: The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service

  Israel's military and Shin Bet describe Hamas's internal security apparatus as a central and clandestine body within what they call a terrorist organization. In July they said one man killed in a strike was both a commander in Hamas's police and a deputy platoon commander in its military wing. On this view, Hamas-run security bodies cannot be separated from the group's fighting forces while it stays armed.

  In their words: JNS ↗

• Treat the police as a civil force doing public duties

  Who holds it: Gaza's Hamas-run Interior Ministry and Government Media Office

  Gaza's Interior Ministry says its police carry out civil and legal duties to protect residents, and that the five officers killed in Khan Younis on Sunday were on duty. It called the strike a crime, said 75 police have been killed since the ceasefire and urged international pressure on Israel.

  In their words: Sawa ↗