Hamas police official who secured aid distribution among 50 executed in Shifa Hospital raid

Brigadier General Faiq al-Mabhouh, a Hamas security official who the group says was responsible for distributing aid in north Gaza, was among tens of people killed by the Occupation since it began its raid on the Shifa Medical Complex in the early hours of Monday. 

At least 50 people have been killed in the ongoing raid on Gaza’s largest health facility, according to the Gaza government media office's official Telegram channel.

Mabhouh’s assassination comes as disorder around aid deliveries, especially in Gaza’s north where famine threatens the tens of thousands of residents remaining in the area, has become increasingly common over recent weeks. 

The pattern has exposed crowds of people to danger, with Israeli forces opening fire on people trying to obtain aid at distribution points in mass casualty incidents that have killed hundreds.

Mabhouh was described by the Israeli military as head of the Operations Directorate of Hamas’ Internal Security Forces.

Hamas, however, has said that Mabhouh was a director of police operations who coordinated and secured aid deliveries. The Gaza government media office said that Mabhouh engaged in purely civil and humanitarian activity, namely operating the coordination process between clans and UNRWA to deliver and secure humanitarian aid for northern Gaza.

As the Occupation launched its assault on the medical complex in Gaza City at dawn on Monday, Israeli forces raided the building where Mabhouh and his family resided, 700 meters from the medical facility, according to Al Jazeera.

Mabhouh was not present and the forces evicted his wife and children, said the Qatari state news outlet. Mabhouh and his brother were in the vicinity of the Shifa Hospital, where they were assaulted by the Occupation forces and demanded to surrender. His brother surrendered, but Mabhouh resisted and engaged in gunfire that resulted in his death.

Following a major depletion in the ranks of Hamas police who used to secure the distribution of aid in the strip, the United States reportedly requested in February that Israel stop targeting the security forces to evade the prospect of social collapse amid the scarcity of aid and chaotic scenes emerging at distribution points. 

Large crowds have gathered to obtain rare aid supplies, with order deteriorating quickly in incidents in both Gaza’s north and south. In the north, Israeli troops have also opened fire at crowds in several incidents leading to over a hundred deaths at once and hundreds of injuries.  

Israel was reported in recent weeks to have sought to arm families and clans who were not affiliated with Hamas in the Gaza Strip to oversee aid distribution.

Hamas responded to reports of the alternative structure by warning families in the strip against collaborating with the Israeli military, according to the Hamas-aligned Al-Majd Al-Amni news outlet.

Other police personnel have reportedly been killed since Mabhouh’s killing on Monday. Israel targeted the home of northern Gaza’s Police Investigation director Major Raed al-Banna on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike that killed Banna, his wife and children, according to the Quds news outlet. Banna was also reportedly responsible for facilitating the entry of aid trucks to northern Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to surround Shifa Medical Complex, with intense airstrikes on the surrounding area killing tens more people on Tuesday. A journalist in Gaza City told Mada Masr on condition of anonymity that the Occupation forces have not yet withdrawn from the complex’s vicinity.

180 individuals were also reportedly arrested in operations that are still ongoing, according to the Israeli military. The Occupation forces have ordered people to leave the area. The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said on Tuesday that it had targeted Israeli equipment in the area. 

 Israel claimed it was conducting “a high precision operation” in the area, citing intelligence that “senior Hamas terrorists” regrouped inside the facility.