GAZA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Gaza's interior authorities confirmed on Thursday that Mahmoud Salah, the director-general of Gaza's police department, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the interior authorities mourned the deaths of Salah and Hussam Shahwan, the head of Hamas' Internal Security in southern Gaza, saying they were killed while "performing their humanitarian and national duty in serving Palestinian people."

The Israeli military announced earlier in the day that it had killed Hussam Shahwan in an overnight drone strike on a humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where displaced Palestinians have sought shelter.

Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, told Xinhua that the Israeli army killed at least 11 Palestinians in an attack on tents in the Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,581, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday. Enditem

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