Three people were killed in a drone strike in Gaza as Hamas prepares to hand over power to a new committee

An Israeli drone strike on Monday killed three Palestinians who crossed the ceasefire line near the Morag Corridor in central Gaza, hospital officials said.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the strike, which comes as Gaza awaits the expected announcement this week of a “peace board” to oversee its rule.

Hamas has said the new committee will dissolve its existing government after seizing the territory, which is mandated under the US-brokered peace plan.

The Gaza Health Ministry reported that more than 440 people have been killed since Israel and Hamas agreed to suspend their two-year war last October. Since then each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire, which remains in its early stages as efforts continue to recover the remains of the last Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Israel’s military controls the buffer zone, which covers more than half of Gaza, while the Hamas-run government controls the rest.

Throughout the war, Israel has supported anti-Hamas groups, including an armed group in southern Gaza that claimed responsibility for Monday’s killing of a senior Hamas police officer in Khan Younis.

Lt. Col. Mahmoud al-Astal was shot dead in the Muwasi area, Hamas’ interior ministry said in a statement.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem called for the speedy establishment of a Palestinian technical committee to govern Gaza in a Telegram post on Sunday.

Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority have not announced who will sit on the committee, and it is unclear whether they will be cleared by Israel and the US.

Trump will announce his appointment to the peace board in the coming days, officials said.

Under Trump’s plan, the board would oversee a new Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of international security forces, additional pullback of Israeli forces, and reconstruction. The US has so far reported little progress on any of these fronts.

According to Turkish officials, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan took part in a video conference meeting with the US and others on Monday to discuss “preparations for the second phase” of a ceasefire agreement. Officials from Egypt and Qatar also participated in the talks, which were held as a follow-up to the meeting in Miami at the end of December.

Dozens of Palestinians, including medical workers, demonstrated in Gaza City on Monday, demanding the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee protested outside the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, advocacy groups for Palestinian prisoners said Israeli authorities had confirmed the death of a detainee from Gaza.

In a statement on Sunday, the Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Hamza Abdullah Abdelhadi Adwan died in prison on September 9, based on information received from the Israeli army.

Adwan, a 67-year-old father of nine with serious health problems, was detained at a checkpoint on November 12, 2024. Two of his children were killed in the Gaza war.

Since the start of the war, 87 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons – including 51 from Gaza, according to the Commission on the Affairs of Palestinian Prisoners. They said more than 100 detainees – none identified – died from torture, starvation, medical neglect and ill-treatment.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondents Sam Metz in Jerusalem, Suzanne Fraser in Ankara and MaryClaire Dale in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war