Israeli attacks on police sites kill six in southern, central Gaza
A mosque, destroyed during Israel's more than two-year genocidal war, is surrounded by tents for displaced Palestinians, in Gaza City, on February 15
At least six Palestinians have been killed in Israeli drone attacks targeting two police posts in the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip and the al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis in the south, as Israel presses on with its more than two-year genocidal war on the devastated enclave.
The attacks overnight into Friday were condemned by Hamas as undermining mediator efforts during a “ceasefire” phase that Israel has violated almost daily since October 10.
Medical sources at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis reported the arrival of four bodies and several wounded individuals following an Israeli military strike on a police checkpoint at the al-Maslakh intersection in al-Mawasi. The sources said that the strike occurred in an area outside the Israeli military’s control, and described the condition of some of the wounded as critical.
In the central Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed and others were injured in a similar Israeli drone strike that targeted a police post at the entrance to the Bureij refugee camp.
Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said that the rising number of deaths as a result of the ongoing Israeli bombardment across the Gaza Strip reflects “the Zionist occupation’s blatant disregard for the efforts of mediators, and its complete disregard for the Peace Council and its role”.
Qassem added, in a statement, that Israel is continuing its war of extermination against the Palestinian people, despite some changes to form and method, indicating that “the talk of the guarantor states about stopping the war lacks any real substance on the ground”.
Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said, “It has been a bloody night. Israeli forces carried out a series of deadly air strikes, this time primarily focusing on police checkpoints that have been deployed too close to areas where armed militias are operating in the eastern communities of the Gaza Strip, in particular in … Khan Younis and Bureij refugee camp.
“Six police members have been killed as a result … But also here, the timing and location are critically reshaping the whole equation between both sides. Israel has made clear that Israel will not be responsible for reorganising the remnants of life in Gaza. That’s why we can see that any kind of restoration of previous services, including police… will be thwarted,” he added.
Rafah crossings and aid still far below minimum
The Gaza Crossings and Borders Authority on Friday reported that 50 Palestinians travelled through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Thursday including 13 patients and 37 companions., while 41 citizens returned to to Gaza.
There has been a trickle of human movement in either direction since Israel partially opened the crossing. Thousands of Palestinians require urgent medical attention outside of the devastated enclave but Israel is severely restricting their exit.
The authority also reported 286 trucks entered Gaza Thursday, including 174 commercial trucks and 112 carrying aid. That’s far below the 600 aid truck required daily to meet the needs of a population still suffering hunger, and a painful Ramadan, due to Israel’s blockade.
Aid organisations facing expulsion deadline
Meanwhile, Israel has ordered 37 aid groups to halt operations in the occupied territory unless they hand over personal details about Palestinian staff by this Sunday, March 1 – a move described as having potentially devastating consequences for Palestinians.
The organisations warn that complying could put employees at risk, compromise humanitarian neutrality and violate European data protection rules.
Seventeen international NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and CARE International, have challenged the order in Israel’s Supreme Court, saying they could be forced to stop operations.
Abu Azzoum said, “This could mark a major turning point for the humanitarian response system in Gaza.” Aid groups may be forced to suspend operations entirely if the order stands, he added.
Oxfam International said on Tuesday that the forced closure of aid operations in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory could begin as early as Saturday. “The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organisations to the wider humanitarian system,” Oxfam warned.
“In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas,” it said in a statement. “In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs,” it added.
Pressure from Israel on international humanitarian groups has been growing for years and escalated sharply after October 7, 2023.
US citizens’ support for Israel at historic low over Gaza genocide: Poll
In a report published on Friday, the polling agency said 41 percent of Americans now say they sympathise more with Palestinians, while 36 percent remain more favourable to the Israelis. By contrast, before the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October 2023 and the ensuing genocidal war waged by Israel in Gaza, 54 percent of Americans sympathised more with Israel and 31 percent with Palestine.
- Democrats’ sympathies haven’t changed significantly over the past year, having already flipped strongly towards the Palestinians in 2025 after first tilting that way in 2023. Currently, 65 percent of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 17 percent say they sympathise more with the Israelis.
- Driving the shift this year, the report says, is the substantial movement among independents who have now joined Democrats in supporting Palestinians. By 41 percent to 30 percent, independents say they sympathise more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic towards the Israelis, including by 42 percent to 34 percent last year.
- Seven in 10 Republicans say they sympathise more with the Israelis, while 13 percent go with the Palestinians. Still, the Republican support for Israel has declined by a 10-point record since 2024, to its lowest level since 2004. Support for Israel has become deeply contentious in the conservative party, including driving a wedge within the far-right conservative MAGA movement. Some of its representatives, such as former Fox news host-turned popular podcaster Tucker Carlson, have become critical of what they say is Israel’s excessive influence over US politics.
- Age gap: For the first time in Gallup’s surveys since 2001, a majority of US citizens aged between 18 and 34 are more sympathetic to the Palestinian people. Meanwhile, 23 percent of young adults say they sympathise more with the Israelis, a record low for the age group. Sympathy for Israel has dropped from 45 percent last year to 28 percent. Among adults older than 55, 49 percent sympathise more with the Israelis and 31% with the Palestinians, the first time since 2005 that less than half of older Americans have said they sympathise more with the Israelis.
While support fell at a faster rate following the war, the trend had started going downwards since 2019 due to the “cumulative effect of gradual changes in US attitudes since then”, read the report.
