UN slams Gaza aid distribution, as Israel says Hamas chief Mohammed Sinwar killed

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The Gaza government's media office said that it followed news of hungry civilians in the Gaza Strip storming a warehouse belonging to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), describing the incident as unfortunate and a result of the catastrophic humanitarian situation caused by the Israeli blockade and systematic starvation policy.

The media office added that the Israeli army, in a blatant attempt to mislead and cover up its crimes, quickly issued a false narrative claiming that the government in Gaza is hiding tons of flour in its warehouses.

Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to support captives still held in Gaza on the 600th day since the war began, urging a ceasefire to secure their release.

Signs reading "The people with the hostages" were held aloft the packed crowd in the plaza dubbed Hostages Square after darkness fell over the Israeli coastal city.

Signs bearing the number 600 were placed along roads and demonstrations were held throughout the day.

💥Tel Aviv, Day 600 of war
There have been protests since 6:29 am pic.twitter.com/04DkecrE0W

— Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي (@NTarnopolsky) May 28, 2025

Switzerland expressed deep dismay at suffering in Gaza and called for unrestricted humanitarian access along with an intensification of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Gaza, the Swiss federal government said in a statement on Wednesday.

The United Nations World Food Programme said "hordes of hungry people" broke into one of the agency's warehouses in central Gaza on Wednesday and initial reports indicated that two people had died and several more were injured.

"Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve," WFP said in a statement.

The Trump administration plans to finalize as soon as Wednesday a new written agreement that may form the basis for a potential Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, a senior aide told reporters.

"We are on the precipice of sending out a new term sheet that hopefully will be delivered later on today," said U.S. President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

"The president is going to review it. And I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict."

Witkoff made the comments at the White House alongside Trump, who said that his administration is working on accelerating food deliveries to Palestinians living in Gaza.

"We're dealing with the whole situation in Gaza. We're getting food to the people of Gaza. It's been a very nasty situation," Trump told reporters.

Israel on Thursday rejected a report in the New York Times that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening to disrupt talks on a nuclear deal between the United States and Iran by striking Iran's main nuclear enrichment facilities.

Netanyahu's office issued a statement in response to the article which said simply: "Fake news."

The New York Times said it stood by the report.

"The New York Times reporting on this matter is thorough and based on discussions with people directly familiar with the matter. We remain confident in what we published," a spokesperson said in an email.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off striking Iran, saying it would be "inappropriate" amid talks on a nuclear deal.

"Well, I'd like to be honest, yes I did," Trump said when asked if he had told Netanyahu in a call last week not to take any action that could disrupt Washington's talks with Tehran.

Pressed on what he told the Israeli premier, Trump replied: "I just said I don't think it's appropriate, we're having very good discussions with them."

He added: "I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now because we're very close to a solution.

"I think they want to make a deal, and if we can make a deal, save a lot of lives."

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration is working on accelerating food deliveries to Palestinians living in Gaza.

"We're dealing with the whole situation in Gaza. We're getting food to the people of Gaza. It's been a very nasty situation," Trump told reporters.

A field hospital for the Red Cross came under fire from the Israeli military, according to Al Jazeera, citing Gaza's Ministry of Health, which said that several people were injured in the panic.

The EU sanctioned Wednesday three militia groups and two of their leaders for serious human rights abuses over their alleged involvement in deadly ethnic violence in March, an official document showed.

The Sultan Sulaiman Shah Brigade, the Hamza Division and the Sultan Murad Division, as well as the heads of the first two groups, were added to Brussels' sanction list for their "part in the violence in the coastal region of Syria, targeting civilians and especially the Alawite community", the EU's official journal read.

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.

"Since the resumption of hostilities in Gaza, the already horrific existence of civilians has only sunk further into the abyss. This is manmade ... Death is their companion. It's not life, it's not hope. The people of Gaza deserve more than survival. They deserve a future," Sigrid Kaag said.

Ryanair has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv until 31 July, extending the duration of its suspension of flights into Israel, the low cost carrier said on Wednesday.

Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said last week that his airline was "losing patience" with security disruptions at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and may consider moving aircraft to service alternative destinations.

(Reuters)

The United Arab Emirates summoned Israel's ambassador to the country to express its condemnation of "provocative practices by Israeli extremists" during a rally in Jerusalem earlier this week, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday.

On Monday, a large rally in Jerusalem marking Israel's capture of the city's east in the 1967 war descended into chaos as far-right Israeli Jews confronted and assaulted Palestinians, fellow Israelis and journalists, witnesses said.

WAM said the UAE condemned "the deplorable and offensive violations against the Palestinian people that took place in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque".

It said the Gulf state had urged the Israeli government "to assume full responsibility, condemn these hostile acts, hold perpetrators accountable without exception to ministers and officials".

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, one of its most wanted and the younger brother of the deceased group's leader, Yahya Sinwar, had been eliminated.

(Reuters)

The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said aid distribution continued in the Palestinian enclave on Wednesday without incident and it opened a second distribution site.

"Across the two sites, approximately 14,550 food boxes have been distributed so far. Each box feeds 5.5 people for 3.5 days, totaling 840,262 meals," the foundation said in a statement.

The GHF is working to open four sites and said it has "plans to build additional sites across Gaza in the weeks ahead."

(Reuters)

The UN on Wednesday condemned a US and Israeli-backed aid system in Gaza after 47 people were injured during a chaotic food distribution, where the Israeli military said it did not open fire at crowds.

Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said most of the wounded had been hurt by gunfire.

Based on the information he had, "it was shooting from the [Israeli military]".

The European Union lifted economic sanctions on Syria on Wednesday in an effort to support the country's transition and recovery after the toppling of former president Bashar al-Assad.

The move follows a political agreement reached last week by EU foreign ministers to lift the sanctions.

The EU will keep sanctions related to Assad's government and restrictions based on security grounds, while also introducing new sanctions against individuals and entities connected to a wave of violence in March, the Council said.

"The Council will continue monitoring developments on the ground and stands ready to introduce further restrictive measures against human rights violators and those fueling instability in Syria," it added.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said Wednesday it received the body of a man who, according to his cousin, was killed overnight by Israeli forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank village of Jit.

"Our teams received the body of a martyr from the Israeli forces at the entrance to the village of Jit near Qalqilya and are currently transferring it to the hospital," the medical organisation said in a statement.

It added that it had received "no information" on the circumstances of the man's death from Israeli forces, who frequently hold on to the bodies of Palestinians killed during army raids.

The victim's cousin, Ahmed al-Siddeh, identified him as 22-year-old Jassem al-Siddeh, and told AFP that the army came at dawn and shot him in his home.

Ahmed al-Siddeh said that Jassem "was not wanted and had no involvement in any activity".

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Gaza's Ministry of Health has announced that in the last 24 hours, 28 Palestinians have been killed, including five recovered, and 179 have been wounded by Israel.

The ministry added that 54,084 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, with a further 123,308 wounded.

The Israeli military on Wednesday said soldiers did not fire at civilians at an aid distribution point in the Gaza Strip the day before, after a United Nations official reported numerous gunshot wounds.

"We are checking information from the UN. At the time we are speaking, we have no information on this matter," military spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told AFP, referring to the wounded civilians.

Israeli soldiers "fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside" the centre managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), he said, adding that "in no case (did they fire) towards the people".

Rafowicz added that "Hamas is doing everything to prevent humanitarian aid".

Ajith Sunghay, the head of UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, said on Wednesday that "about 47 people were injured" on Tuesday when thousands of Palestinians rushed toward a new aid distribution centre in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Most of the injuries were caused by bullets," and "the shots came from the Israeli army", he said.

Iran might allow the UN atomic watchdog to send US inspectors to Iranian sites if Tehran's talks with Washington succeed, Iran's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami said on Wednesday.

Tehran and Washington are expected to hold a sixth round of talks to solve a decades-long dispute over Iran's nuclear programme, with US President Donald Trump predicting "good news".

"It is normal that inspectors from hostile countries are not allowed, but if a nuclear deal is reached, we might allow American inspectors working for the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit our nuclear sites," Eslami told a press conference in Tehran.

Pope Leo appealed on Wednesday for a ceasefire in Gaza, and called on Israel and Hamas militants to "completely respect" international humanitarian law.

"In the Gaza Strip, the intense cries are reaching Heaven more and more from mothers and fathers who hold tightly to the bodies of their dead children," the pontiff said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"To those responsible, I renew my appeal: stop the fighting," said the pope. "Liberate all the hostages. Completely respect humanitarian law."

Leo, elected on 8 May to replace the late Pope Francis, also appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Houthi media in Yemen said Israel had struck Sanaa airport on Wednesday, shortly after Israel announced it had hit "terror targets" in the country.

"Israeli aggression on Sanaa International Airport," Al-Masirah television channel posted on X, without providing further details.

Italy's foreign minister on Wednesday again urged Israel to stop its strikes on Gaza, while warning that expelling Palestinians from the territory "is not and never will be an acceptable option".

"The legitimate reaction of the Israeli government to a terrible and senseless terrorist act has unfortunately taken on absolutely tragic and unacceptable forms, that we ask Israel to stop immediately," Antonion Tajani told parliament, referring also to Hamas's 7 October 2023, attack on Israel.

"The bombings must stop, humanitarian assistance must resume as soon as possible, respect for international humanitarian law must be restored," he said.

"Hamas must immediately free all the hostages which are still today in its in hands, and who have the right to return to their homes."

Tajani also condemned US President Donald Trump's plan for US control of Gaza and the forced displacement of the Palestinians living there.

"I want to reiterate today in this chamber with the utmost clarity - the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza is not and will never be an acceptable option," Tajani said.

"This is why we wholeheartedly support the Arab plan led by Egypt for the recovery and reconstruction of the (Gaza) Strip, which is incompatible with any hypothesis of forced displacement."

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday that fighter jets had carried out strikes on Huthi "terror targets" at the airport in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, a day after the group fired two projectiles at Israel.

"Air Force jets have just struck terror targets of the Huthi terrorist organisation at the airport in Sanaa and destroyed the last aircraft remaining," Katz said in a statement.

"This is a clear message and a continuation of our policy: whoever fires at the State of Israel will pay a heavy price," he added.

Huthi media shortly after reported that Israel had struck the airport.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday said he would be willing to establish diplomatic relations with Israel if it recognised a Palestinian state, as he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in capital Jakarta.

"The two-state solution and the freedom of Palestine is the only way to achieve the true peace. We must acknowledge and guarantee Israel's rights as a sovereign country that must be paid attention to and guaranteed safety. Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognises Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognise Israel," he told a news conference.

The new US-backed aid distribution model in Gaza is a waste of resources and a distraction from "atrocities", the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini said Wednesday.

"I believe it is a waste of resources and a distraction from atrocities. We already have an aid distribution system that is fit for purpose," Lazzarini said in Japan.

"The humanitarian community in Gaza, including UNRWA, is ready. We have the experience and expertise to reach people in need," he said.

"Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards famine, so humanitarian (work) must be allowed to do its life-saving work now," he added.

47 people were injured while trying to receive food aid on Tuesday at distribution sites in Gaza operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the United Nations human rights office said on Wednesday.

"47 people were injured due to gun shots," Ajith Sunghay, Head of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory told reporters in Geneva, citing information from partners on the ground. The gunfire was from the Israel Defense Force, he said. The UN Human rights office could not give a specific location of where people were injured. 

(Reuters)