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OCCUPIED JERUSALEM GENEVA — Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said the military had killed Mohammed Sinwar, the presumed leader of Hamas in Gaza and the brother of slain former chief Yahya Sinwar.
"In 600 days of the 'War of Revival', we have indeed changed the face of the Middle East," Netanyahu told parliament.
"We drove the terrorists out of our territory, entered the Gaza Strip with force, and eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists, eliminated... Mohammed Sinwar."
Israeli media had reported that Sinwar was targeted in Israeli air strikes in the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis on May 13.
At the time, the Israeli military said it conducted "a precise struck on Hamas terrorists in a command and control centre located in an underground terrorist infrastructure site beneath the European hospital in Khan Yunis".
Sinwar's older brother Yahya, accused by Israel of masterminding Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war in Gaza, was killed in the south of the territory in October 2024.
Around 47 people were injured, largely due to gunshots fired by the Israeli military, during chaotic scenes at a new aid distribution centre in Gaza, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.
Thousands of Palestinians rushed into the centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, as Israel implemented a new distribution system that bypasses the United Nations.
The incident in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory that Israel imposed on March 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.
"From the information we have, there are about 47 people who have been injured" in Tuesday's incident, Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, told the UN correspondents' association in Geneva.
He added that "most of those injured are due to gunshots" and based on the information he has, "it was shooting from the IDF" -- the Israeli army.
Sunghay stressed that his office was still assessing and gathering information on the full picture of events.
"The numbers could go up. We are trying to confirm what has happened to them," in terms of how seriously people were injured, Sunghay added.
Sunghay also expressed concern about the possible medical aid injured people would be able to access.
"Getting medical aid has never been easy in Gaza or in the West Bank because hospitals have been attacked, ambulances have been attacked, health workers have been attacked," he said.
The Israeli military said its troops "fired warning shots in the area outside" the distribution compound on Tuesday, and that it had re-established "control over the situation". A senior military official said the distribution was nonetheless "a success".
GHF not 'viable solution'
Little is known about the GHF, which surfaced in early May.
The foundation has faced accusations of helping Israel fulfil its military objectives while excluding Palestinians, bypassing the UN system, and failing to adhere to humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.
"We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism," Sunghay said.
He said large parts of the Gazan population would not travel all the way to the far south to collect food -- while the elderly, sick, disabled and those looking after children would not be able to do so in any case.
There were also concerns within the population that they would be detained, or not allowed to return to northern Gaza.
"This has happened in the past when the population has moved from the north to the south: while crossing checkpoints they have been detained by the IDF," Sunghay explained.
"For numerous reasons, this is not the viable solution for what we are facing in Gaza."
Sunghay cited 24 incidents in recent months "where civilians were collecting food and people were shot at".
"What we saw yesterday is a very clear example of the dangers of distributing food under the circumstances which the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is doing," he said.
"GHF has gone forward; we have seen the consequences."
Palestinians living in Gaza "deserve more than survival," the United Nations envoy for the Middle East told the Security Council on Wednesday, as Israel's war there enters its 600th day.
Israel stepped up its military offensive in Gaza, ignited by an attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7, 2023, earlier this month, while mediators push for a ceasefire that remains elusive.
"Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, the already horrific existence of civilians has only sunk further into the abyss. This is manmade," Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told the Council.
"Death is their companion," she continued. "It's not life, it's not hope. The people of Gaza deserve more than survival. They deserve a future."