Israeli strike at Gaza market kills 18 Palestinians, doctor and witnesses sa

BBC:

At least 18 Palestinians have been killed after an Israeli drone strike targeted a Hamas police unit attempting to assert control over a market in the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, a doctor and eyewitnesses told the BBC.

Eyewitnesses said Israeli drones fired at members of a Hamas police force, dressed in civilian clothing and wearing masks, who were confronting vendors they accused of price gouging and selling goods looted from aid trucks.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Interior condemned the strike, accusing Israel of committing “a new crime against a police unit tasked with maintaining public order”.

The BBC has contacted the Israeli military for comment.

One eyewitness told the BBC clashes broke out on Thursday after police confronted the vendors, with the unit commander shouting: “Either sell at a fair price or we will confiscate the goods.”

Some of the vendors then “pulled out handguns and one man had a Kalashnikov”, the eyewitness said.

Israeli drones then fired two missiles, local residents said.

Video footage from the aftermath shows bodies strewn on the ground and panicked shoppers screaming, as ambulances rush to attend to those injured.

A doctor at Deir al-Balah’s Al-Aqsa Hospital told the BBC 18 bodies were brought to the morgue there. It was not immediately clear how many of those killed were police officers.