Describing “repeated attacks” and “routine attacks” against law enforcement personnel in Gaza, the OHCHR said they had been killed while directing traffic and patrolling crowded streets and markets.
This “systematic attack” on key public institutions and workers has led to a collapse of civic and public order since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel triggered the war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, said Mayy El Sheikh, spokesperson for the OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Obligations ignored
“Israel, as an occupying power, actually has the obligation, under international law, to guarantee civic and public order. for Palestinians living under occupation… attacking them, unless they directly participate in attacks or hostilities, would be tantamount to war crimes”, he insisted.
Since January 2026, OHCHR has recorded at least 12 attacks against police, killing more than 53 civilians, including 35 police officers, five children and a woman. In May alone, four attacks were recorded in which 12 police officers died.
The U.N. office said the pattern of attacks raised concerns that Israeli forces do not apply “any distinction” between police personnel and fighters belonging to armed groups in Gaza.
“Almost eight months have passed since the announcement of a ceasefire and there is no end in sight to the killings, unrest and misery,” said Ajith Sunghay, Head of OHCHR in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The alleged incidents include:
- May 23 – Israeli attack on a police checkpoint in Al Tawam, Gaza City, killing at least five police officers and two other people, including a child.
- April 24, 2026 – Israeli drone attack on a police vehicle in the Al Mawasi camp, west of Khan Younis, killing four police officers and four civilians, including a nine-year-old boy.
- January 31, 2026 – Israeli airstrike on the Ash Sheikh Radwan police station in Gaza City, killing 11 people, including five police officers and a child.
The alert comes as the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza continues. Today, more than 1.9 million Palestinians of the 2.4 million living in the enclave have been uprooted by 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 supposed ceasefire between Hamas fighters and the Israeli army has not brought security. Displacement orders continue to be issued “and Israeli forces in Gaza continue to destroy what remains of the built environment. too,” said Ms. El Sheikh of the OHCHR UN News.
“Gaza remains suspended in a nightmare that is difficult to reconcile with the existence of a ceasefire“he maintained. “Palestinians in Gaza live on a small fraction of the land, and are surrounded on all sides by Israeli ground forces that continue to advance into Palestinian communities and reduce the space available to civilians.”