The Israel Defense Forces’ Military Police has launched an investigation into the killing of a Palestinian detainee in the Gaza Strip, allegedly by a soldier who was supposed to be guarding him, the army said Monday.

The terror suspect was arrested alive on Sunday night, and after being questioned by field interrogators of the Military Intelligence Directorate’s Unit 504, he was handed over to another soldier to be guarded.

The IDF said that at a certain point, the soldier guarding the suspect allegedly opened fire and killed him.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the soldier claimed he had felt in danger after the terror suspect allegedly attacked him, and thus opened fire.

“Following the initial information that was provided, an investigation was opened by the Military Police regarding the circumstances of the shooting,” the IDF said.

The suspect was arrested as part of Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip, which was sparked after thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded the south of the country on October 7, rampaging through communities and killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking another estimated 240 people hostage.

Nearly three months of conflict have claimed almost 22,000 lives in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and devastated much of the besieged territory. These figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

The IDF has said that as of December 26, the military had killed more than 2,000 Hamas operatives in strikes and during ground combat since the end of a temporary ceasefire with Hamas on December 1

That brings the military’s estimate of Hamas fighters killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war to around 8,000. Another 1,000 Hamas terrorists were killed in Israel on October 7, during the terror group’s onslaught.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.