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Netanyahu says Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been killed

Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar. (Screenshot)
Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar. (Screenshot)
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Updated 29 May 2025

Netanyahu says Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar has been killed

Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar. (Screenshot)
  • Mohammad Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the Palestinian militant group last year after Israel killed his brother Yahya in combat

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief and the younger brother of the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack, Yahya Sinwar, had been killed.
Mohammad Sinwar had been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month and Netanyahu said on May 21 that it was likely he was dead.
The Israeli leader announced that Sinwar had been “eliminated” in an address to the Israeli parliament as he listed off names of other Hamas officials that Israel had killed over the past 20 months, including Sinwar’s brother Yahya.
“In the last two days we have been in a dramatic turn toward a complete defeat of Hamas,” he said, adding that Israel was also “taking control of food distribution,” a reference to a new aid distribution system in Gaza managed by a US-backed group.

Hamas has yet to confirm Sinwar’s death.
Netanyahu’s announcement comes as the Israeli military has intensified its war campaign in Gaza after breaking a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in March. Israel has said it aims to dismantle Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and secure the release of hostages that are still held in Gaza.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants stormed out of Gaza, rampaging through southern Israeli communities and killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than 250 were captured and taken as hostages into Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has decimated the coastal territory, killing more than 53,000, according to health officials in Gaza, and displaced over 2 million Palestinians.
Gazan health officials have said most of those killed have been civilians but have not said how many militants have died. Israel believes it has killed tens of thousands of militants but has not provided any evidence to support those claims.
Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir on May 26 said Hamas had lost many assets, including its command and control center.
Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the Palestinian militant group last year after Israel killed his brother Yahya in combat.
Yahya Sinwar masterminded the October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war, now in its 20th month, and was later named the overall leader of the group after Israel killed his predecessor Ismail Haniyeh in Iran.


Turkiye arrests five mayors from CHP opposition party

Updated 8 sec ago

Turkiye arrests five mayors from CHP opposition party

Turkiye arrests five mayors from CHP opposition party
ISTANBUL: Turkish police arrested five opposition mayors early Wednesday alongside 17 others as part of a probe into corruption allegations at CHP-held municipalities, a party spokesman told AFP.
The latest arrests targeted a former lawmaker and three CHP mayors in Istanbul, and two more in the southern province of Adana, the spokesman said.
The latest round of arrests brings to nine the total number of jailed CHP mayors, including Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — the main political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The latest investigation began at the weekend when a court issued arrest orders for 47 municipal officials in connection with four separate corruption investigations centered on Istanbul, local media reported.
The March 19 arrest and jailing of Imamoglu sparked the biggest street protests Turkiye had seen in more than a decade.
Police had already detained nearly 70 people in subsequent raids linked to alleged corruption at Istanbul City Hall, including Imamoglu’s private secretary and his private protection officer.
The CHP has nominated Imamoglu as its candidate in presidential elections due in 2028 but whether he can run in the elections depends on the fate of numerous trials and probes.

Gaza aid sites shut, as Israel issues ‘combat zones’ warning

Gaza aid sites shut, as Israel issues ‘combat zones’ warning
Updated 58 min 41 sec ago

Gaza aid sites shut, as Israel issues ‘combat zones’ warning

Gaza aid sites shut, as Israel issues ‘combat zones’ warning
  • Announcement follows a string of deadly incidents near Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution sites
  • On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of the facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were “considered combat zones.”

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates that have sparked condemnation from the United Nations.

Israeli bombardment on Wednesday killed at least 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including 12 in a single strike on a tent housing displaced people, the Palestinian territory’s civil defense agency said.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the deaths of people seeking food aid as “unacceptable,” and the world body’s rights chief condemned attacks on civilians as “a war crime” following a similar incident near the same site on Sunday.

Israel recently eased its blockade of Gaza, but the UN says the territory’s entire population remains at risk of famine.

The GHF said its “distribution centers will be closed for renovation, reorganization and efficiency improvement work” on Wednesday and would resume operations on Thursday.

The Israeli army, which confirmed the temporary closure, warned against traveling “on roads leading to the distribution centers, which are considered combat zones.”

The GHF, officially a private effort with opaque funding, began operations a week ago but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Israeli authorities and the GHF, which uses contracted US security, have denied allegations that the Israeli army shot at civilians rushing to pick up aid packages.

Food shortages in Gaza have propelled fresh international calls for an end to the war, but a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas remains elusive.

The UN Security Council will vote Wednesday on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian access to Gaza, a measure expected to be vetoed by key Israel backer the United States.

At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem Al-Akhras, who was killed in Tuesday’s shooting near GHF’s facility, were beside themselves with grief.

“She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her,” her son Zain Zidan said, his face streaked with tears.

Akhras’s husband, Mohamed Zidan, said “every day unarmed people” were being killed.

“This is not humanitarian aid – it’s a trap.”

The Israeli military maintains that its forces do not prevent Gazans from collecting aid.

Army spokesperson Effie Defrin said the Israeli soldiers had fired toward suspects who “were approaching in a way that endangered” the troops, adding that the “incident is being investigated.”

UN human rights chief Volker Turk called attacks against civilians “unconscionable” and said they “constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross meanwhile said “Gazans face an “unprecedented scale and frequency of recent mass casualty incidents.”

Scenes of hunger in Gaza have also sparked fresh solidarity with Palestinians, and a boat organized by an international activist coalition was sailing toward Gaza, aiming to deliver aid.

The boat from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition departed Sicily Sunday carrying a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, along with fruit juices, milk, tinned food and protein bars.

“Together, we can open a people’s sea corridor to Gaza,” the coalition said.

But Israel’s military said Tuesday it was ready to “protect” the country’s maritime space.

When asked about the Freedom Flotilla vessel, army spokesman Defrin said “for this case as well, we are prepared,” declining to go into detail.

Israel has stepped up its offensive in Gaza in what it says is a renewed push to defeat the Palestinian group Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 4,240 people have been killed since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war’s overall toll to 54,510, mostly civilians.

Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The army said three of its soldiers had been killed in northern Gaza, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed in the territory since the start of the war to 424.


Ten Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on school in Gaza’s Khan Younis

Ten Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on school in Gaza’s Khan Younis
Updated 04 June 2025

Ten Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on school in Gaza’s Khan Younis

Ten Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on school in Gaza’s Khan Younis
  • Residents say Israeli military escalated airstrikes and tank shelling on parts of Khan Younis
  • Israeli military earlier dropped leaflets warning residents to leave their homes and head west

CAIRO: An Israeli airstrike on a school housing displaced Palestinian families killed at least 10 people, including children, on Wednesday, local health authorities said.

Residents said Israeli military escalated airstrikes and tank shelling on parts of Khan Younis, a day after it dropped leaflets warning residents to leave their homes and head west, saying forces would fight Hamas and other militants in those areas.


Israel army says shelling Syria after projectiles launched

Israel army says shelling Syria after projectiles launched
Updated 04 June 2025

Israel army says shelling Syria after projectiles launched

Israel army says shelling Syria after projectiles launched
  • Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said bombardments had hit farmland in the province, without reporting casualties

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it was shelling targets in Syria on Tuesday in response to a pair of projectile launches, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying he held Syria’s leader “directly responsible.”
A military statement said that “two projectiles were identified crossing from Syria into Israeli territory, and fell in open areas,” adding in a subsequent statement that its “artillery struck in southern Syria” following the launches.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported shelling “targeting the Yarmuk Basin, in the west of Daraa” province.
Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said bombardments had hit farmland in the province, without reporting casualties.
“Violent explosions shook southern Syria, notably the town of Quneitra and the Daraa region, following Israeli aerial strikes” overnight Tuesday to Wednesday, the monitor said in a statement.
Israel said it had targeted weapons belonging to Syrian authorities following the launch of the projectiles.
There were no reports of casualties or damage on the Israeli side due to the projectiles, which the military said triggered air raid sirens in parts of the southern Golan Heights, a territory Israel conquered from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.
Katz, the Israeli defense minister, said in a statement released by his office that “we view the president of Syria as directly responsible for any threat or fire directed at the State of Israel.”
“A full response will follow shortly,” he added.
Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, led the Islamist group that spearheaded the offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December.
Israeli media said Tuesday’s projectiles were the first fired from Syria into Israeli territory since Assad’s fall.
Following his overthrow, Israel moved its forces into the UN-patrolled demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights, and has carried out hundreds of strikes against military targets in Syria.
Israel says the strikes aim to stop advanced weapons reaching Syria’s new authorities, whom it considers jihadists.
In a statement on Sunday, Israel’s military said its troops were continuing “defensive operations in southern Syria” to “dismantle terrorist infrastructure and protect the residents of the Golan Heights.”
Syria and Israel have technically been at war since 1948.
 

 


Israel army confirms shot Palestinian teen in West Bank

Israel army confirms shot Palestinian teen in West Bank
Updated 04 June 2025

Israel army confirms shot Palestinian teen in West Bank

Israel army confirms shot Palestinian teen in West Bank
  • A statement from the local municipality also said Faqha died after being shot by Israeli forces

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s military confirmed on Tuesday it had “neutralized” a Palestinian who threw rocks in the occupied West Bank, where authorities said the slain victim was 14 years old.
In a statement on Monday, the Palestinian Authority announced “the martyrdom of 14-year-old boy Yousef Fouad F aqha, who was shot by Israeli forces in the town of Sinjil” in the central West Bank.
A statement from the local municipality also said Faqha died after being shot by Israeli forces.
Asked about the incident, the Israeli military told AFP on Tuesday that during an operation around Sinjil a day earlier, its forces had “identified a terrorist who had hurled rocks toward a transportation route and thrown two bottles containing hazardous material toward the forces.”
“Immediately after identifying the threat, the forces opened fire and neutralized the terrorist,” it added.
The military later confirmed to AFP that the target was Faqha.
Sources close to the family said that Israeli authorities were still holding onto the body.
In a similar incident in April, a teenager who held US citizenship was shot dead in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, with the Israeli military saying it had killed a “terrorist” who threw rocks at cars.
Sinjil and Turmus Ayya are located next to each other on either side of a main road running through the West Bank.
The Israeli military has recently surrounded Sinjil with a large metal fence that cuts the town off from the road.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and violence there has soared since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
The West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians, but also some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 938 Palestinians — many of them militants, but also scores of civilians — in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to Palestinian health ministry figures.
At least 35 Israelis, including both soldiers and civilians, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures.