Drone strike kills 3 in Gaza as Hamas prepares to transfer governance to new committee

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli drone strike on Monday killed three Palestinians who had crossed the ceasefire line near central Gaza’s Morag corridor, hospital officials said.

Israel’s military said the three approached troops and posed an immediate threat. They said they later found weapons and intelligence-gathering equipment on them. The strike came as Gaza awaits an expected announcement this week of a “Board of Peace” to oversee its governance.

Hamas has said it will dissolve its existing government once the new committee takes over the territory, as mandated under the U.S.-brokered peace plan.

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

Israel’s military controls a buffer zone that covers more than half of Gaza, while the Hamas-run government retains authority over the rest.

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

Lt. Col. Mahmoud al-Astal was gunned down in the Muwasi area, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem, in a post on Telegram on Sunday, called for a speeding up of the establishment of the Palestinian technocratic committee set to govern Gaza.

Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority have not announced the names of who will sit on the committee and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the U.S.

Officials say that Trump will announce his appointments to the Board of Peace in the coming days.

Under Trump’s plan, the board would supervise the new Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction. The U.S. has reported little progress on any of these fronts so far.

According to Turkish officials, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan participated on Monday in a video conference with the U.S. and others meeting to discuss “preparations for the second stage” of the ceasefire agreement. The talks, held as a continuation of a meeting in Miami at the end of December, also included officials from Egypt and Qatar.

Dozens of Palestinians, including medical workers, held a protest in Gaza City on Monday to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners still being held in Israeli prisons. The protest was organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee outside the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, groups that advocate for Palestinian prisoners said that Israeli authorities have confirmed the death of a detainee from Gaza.

In a statement Sunday, the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said that Hamza Abdullah Abdelhadi Adwan died in prison on Sept. 9, based on information the family received from the Israeli military. Israeli military officials said Monday that its police force will investigate and send their findings to the military prosecutor’s office for review.

Adwan, 67, a father of nine with serious health problems, had been detained at a checkpoint on Nov. 12, 2024. Two of his children were killed in the Gaza war.

Since the start of the war, 87 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons — including 51 from Gaza — according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission. They said that more than 100 detainees — some not yet identified — had died of torture, starvation, medical neglect, and abuse.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press reporters Sam Metz and Audrey Horowitz in Jerusalem, Suzan Fraser in Ankara and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Medical staff take part in a protest organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee calling for the release of prisoners held in Israeli prisons outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Family members of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and medical staff take part in a protest organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee calling for their release outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Medical staff take part in a protest organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee calling for the release of prisoners held in Israeli prisons outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Medical staff take part in a protest organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee calling for the release of prisoners held in Israeli prisons outside the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza City Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen later this week in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of the NATO ally.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., is leading the trip of at least nine members of Congress, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The group will be in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday, according to a congressional aide familiar with the trip's planning. The lawmakers will meet with high-level Danish and Greenlandic government officials and business leaders, according to the aide, granted anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

The trip comes as China said Monday that the United States shouldn't use other countries as a “pretext” to pursue its interests in Greenland and said that China's activities in the Arctic comply with international law.

The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. Trump has said that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland to prevent Russia or China from taking it over.

Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO. On Friday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the leaders of the four other parties in the territory's parliament issued a joint statement reiterating that Greenland's future must be decided by its people and emphasizing their “wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends.”

Greenland’s leader also issued another statement on Monday, saying Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of NATO through the Realm.

“This means that our security and defense belong within NATO. This is a fundamental and firm line,” he said.

“We are a democratic society that makes our own decisions. And our actions are based on international law and the rule of law.”

Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday. He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”

China in 2018 declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. Beijing has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.

Asked in Beijing Monday about U.S. statements that it is necessary for Washington to take over Greenland to prevent China and Russia from taking control, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning replied that “China’s activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting peace, stability, and sustainable development in the region and are in accordance with international law.” She didn't elaborate on those activities.

“The rights and freedoms of all countries to conduct activities in the Arctic in accordance with the law should be fully respected,” Mao said, without mentioning Greenland directly. “The U.S. should not pursue its own interests by using other countries as a pretext.”

She said that “the Arctic concerns the overall interests of the international community.”

Danish and Greenlandic envoys are expected in Washington this week for talks.

FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

FILE - A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)