Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel has “probably” killed Mohammed Sinwar, Hamas’ elusive de facto leader in Gaza.

⁠“We eliminated tens of thousands of terrorists,” said Netanyahu at a press conference on Wednesday evening. “We eliminated the leaders of the murderers Deif, Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and probably Mohammad Sinwar.”

Israel targeted Sinwar in a massive set of strikes on the European hospital in Khan Younis last week. The attack killed 28 Palestinians and wounded more than 50 others, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said after the strike.

If Sinwar’s death is confirmed, it would be the latest in a string of assassinations that have dealt a serious blow to the group’s top brass but are yet to break its grip on power.

Sinwar is the brother of former leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by the Israeli military in southern Gaza in October.

In his first press conference in months, Netanyahu also vowed that Israel would not stop its newly launched military operation in Gaza.

“Our forces are capturing more and more territory in Gaza,” he said. “At the end of the operation all areas of the Strip will be under Israeli security control.”

Netanyahu said that Israel could agree to a temporary ceasefire that includes the release of hostages, but an end to the war would only come with a list of conditions, including the demilitarization of Gaza, the overthrow of Hamas, and the implementation of the US plan for voluntary emigration from the besieged enclave.

“Anyone who calls on us to stop the war before these goals are achieved is calling on us to leave Hamas in power,” he said.

“The state of Israel maintains the right to defend itself against a regime that threatens to destroy it,” said Netanyahu.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit to the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing swift condemnation.

Delegations from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others, were on an official mission to see the humanitarian situation in the besieged camp, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the incident a “deliberate and unlawful act.”

Video from the incident shows Israeli soldiers firing toward the delegation as it backs away from a gate blocking the road. At least four shots can be heard in the video. One member of the delegation cautions the group, “Be close to the wall, be close to the wall,” as they walk away from the scene.

“The Ministry holds the Israeli occupying government fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault and affirms that such acts will not pass without accountability,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the visit to the camp – the site of a major ongoing military operation that has destroyed more than 100 buildings and impacted thousands of families – was coordinated in advance. The military launched an initial investigation once it became clear that the group was a diplomatic delegation.

“The delegation deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be,” the military said in a statement Wednesday.

“IDF soldiers operating in the area fired warning shots to distance them away.”

The IDF said it will reach out to the delegations about the findings of the initial inquiry and “regrets the inconvenience caused.”

Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said after the incident that “any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable.”

“We definitely call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for this,” Kallas said at a press conference Wednesday.

Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome for an official clarification. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called on Israel to “immediately clarify what happened” following a phone call with the Italian vice consul to Jerusalem, Alessandro Tutino, who was part of the delegation in Jenin.

“The threats against diplomats are unacceptable,” Tajani added in a social media post on X.

North Korea’s newest warship was severely damaged during a launch ceremony Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the accident, saying it brought shame to the nation’s prestige and vowing to punish those found responsible, state media reported.

In a rare admission of failure, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a malfunction in the launch mechanism caused the stern of the as-yet unnamed 5,000-ton destroyer to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway.

Kim called the launch failure “a criminal act” and blamed it on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” by multiple state institutions – including the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the central ship design bureau.

According to a South Korean military analysis, the vessel is lying on its side in the water, Chiefs of Staff (JCS) spokesperson Lee Sung-joon said during a press briefing on Thursday.

Naval analysts said the damage incurred by a vessel in such a launch malfunction could be “catastrophic.” State media did not immediately release images of the accident.

Naval analyst Carl Schuster in Hawaii, after reviewing the KCNA account, said he thinks the stresses would “warp the hull, induce cracks and (possibly) snap the keel depending on where the greatest stress falls.”

The launch failure marks a setback for what analysts have viewed as North Korea’s most ambitious naval modernization effort in decades.

The ship was to be the second major navy surface vessel revealed in quick succession by North Korea. In April, Kim unveiled the Choe Hyon, the country’s first newly constructed destroyer in decades, and declared his ambition of building more destroyers and various cruisers and frigates.

The Choe Hyon, described as a “new generation” warship, was presented with significant fanfare with state media saying it would strengthen naval readiness amid what Pyongyang calls rising threats from the United States and South Korea.

Western defense analysts noted that the Choe Hyon marked a departure from the aging Soviet-era vessels that dominated the Korean People’s Navy. While details remain scarce, satellite imagery and footage suggested the Choe Hyon could share design elements with similar Russian navy ships.

Lee, the South Korean military spokesperson, said the vessel damaged on Wednesday was thought to be equipped like the Choe Hyon.

Wednesday’s incident could cast doubt on the country’s ability to scale its navy. Kim said the damage would be addressed not only through technical repairs, but political accountability.

He ordered the destroyer to be restored before the late June plenary session of the ruling Workers’ Party, calling the matter one of national honor.

However, considering the potential degree of damage, analysts said that it would be nearly impossible to meet Kim’s deadline.

A dry dock is a basin facility that can be filled with water to float a ship or drain out to build or repair one.

“Dry dock is an expensive facility, and North Korea probably doesn’t have one… It’s easy to repair a ship in a dry dock after draining water, but they don’t have the facility,” the retired admiral said, adding that restoration could take over four to five months.

South Korean lawmaker and defense analyst Yu Yong-weon said rushing the launch of the ship likely led to the problems encountered on Wednesday and warned hasty repairs could cause more problems down the line.

Schuster said repairs, if possible, are more likely to take months, rather than weeks.

An accident investigation group has been formed, and senior officials may face censure at the upcoming Party Central Committee meeting, an account from KCNA reported.

North Korea’s navy is often seen as the least developed branch of its military. The hastened pace of destroyer development has surprised some outside observers, raising questions about how much of the technology is functional versus symbolic.

Mercogliano, the US professor, said it’s unclear whether Pyongyang’s new warships even have engines as state media has provided no images of them underway.

A member of Irish hip hop trio Kneecap has been charged with a terrorism offence following an investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police.

Liam O’Hanna, 27, of Belfast has been charged with allegedly displaying a flag “in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation,” London’s Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday.

The charge relates to a flag that was allegedly displayed by O’Hanna – whose stage name is Mo Chara – on November 21, 2024, at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, a music venue in London, “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hezbollah,” the police said in a statement.

“Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on Tuesday, April 22, of an online video from the event. An investigation was carried out, which led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorizing the above charge,” the statement said.

The police added that O’Hanna is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.

Kneecap have been vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza. Earlier this month, UK counter-terrorism police said they were investigating the group after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for British politicians to be killed and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”

Kneecap has previously said it has never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and that the footage circulating online has been “deliberately taken out of all context” as part of a “smear campaign” following their criticism of Israel and the United States in regards to the war in Gaza.

Separately, video from November 2023 appeared to show one member of the group, who are from Northern Ireland, saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Tory is another word for Conservative, and MP is an abbreviation of Member of Parliament. In the past decade, two British MPs – Jo Cox and David Amess – have been murdered.

Kneecap later apologized to the families of Cox and Amess.

Both videos have been widely circulated online in wake of the band’s Coachella set, where they led the crowd to chant “Free Free Palestine,” criticized Israel’s campaign in Gaza, and also criticized US support for the war.

Kneecap’s manager, Daniel Lambert, recently told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that the controversy “has nothing to do with Kneecap… it’s about telling the next young band… that you cannot speak about Palestine.”

Many South Africans are praising President Cyril Ramaphosa’s calm demeanor as President Donald Trump’s multimedia ambush unfolded in front of the world’s press. He pushed back gently whenever he could, but he didn’t raise his voice or show anger, displaying his decades of negotiation experience.

“What else could Cyril have done?” asked veteran journalist Milton Nkosi. “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. I think they were caught completely unawares. How on earth could you have planned for that?” said Nkosi, who’s a senior research fellow at the Africa Asia Dialogues think tank.

On social media and across South Africa’s broadcast outlets, consensus seemed to quickly form that Ramaphosa did the best under the circumstances. He remained “calm, collected and humble in the face of bigotry and lies,” posted one user on X. “You were a leader today. Went to build not to fight.”

Ramaphosa brought his own White billionaire to the meeting – luxury goods magnate Johan Rupert, who’s behind brands like Cartier – who told Trump that violent crime affects all races, but his words fell on deaf ears.

Rupert even threw tech billionaire Elon Musk, who was also in the room, a bone.

“We have too many deaths. But it’s across the board,” Rupert said. “It’s not only White farmers. It’s across the board. We need technological help. We need Starlink at every little police station. We need drones.”

One White South African called Rupert a traitor to his fellow Afrikaners in a social media post.

Another prominent White South African, agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, also tried to convince their Oval Office host that he had been misled.

The most dramatic part of the scene was when Trump called for lights to be dimmed and screened a four-and-a-half minute montage claiming to show evidence of a White genocide. It included far-left opposition leader Julius Malema singing “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” as a crowd chanted along.

Officially named “Dubula iBhunu” in the Xhosa language, the song emerged in the 1980s to fight the unjust system of segregation. South African courts have ruled that it doesn’t mean a literal call to kill White farmers.

The Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in 2024 that any “reasonably well-informed person” would see it as a “historic struggle song, with the performance gestures that go with it, as a provocative means of advancing his party’s political agenda.”

Trump confronted Ramaphosa on why he had not arrested Malema for it.

Malema, leader of the the Economic Freedom Fighters party, responded in his typical fiery way on X: “A group of older men meet in Washington to gossip about me,” he said, disputing the claims of a genocide. “We will not agree to compromise our political principles on land expropriation without compensation for political expediency.”

Malema was expelled from Ramaphosa’s African National Congress (ANC) party more than a decade ago and came third in the most recent election.

Most of the information that Trump used to try to prove that “White genocide” is happening in South Africa has repeatedly been disproven.

Some South Africans have said that they believe that the information is “AfriForum propaganda” – referring to a White Afrikaner lobby group criticized as being a White nationalist group.

“It shows that the South African president and the ANC leadership cannot just simply sweep real problems that we have in the country under the carpet and think they will disappear,” Kallie Kriel said in a voice note.

It was the toughest public test yet for Ramaphosa, a skilled dealmaker who led negotiations for Nelson Mandela in talks that ended apartheid.

It was a good day for South Africa’s White nationalists. The president of the United States repeated their talking points from the bully pulpit of the White House, giving them the highest-profile validation they could have ever dreamed of.

The South African delegation expected a confrontational meeting, but nothing could have prepared them for the ambush that awaited them.

Armed men hijacked a tourist boat in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, robbed all 14 people on board and forced them to empty their bank accounts via mobile apps, according to one of the victims.

Spanish TikToker Elisabet de la Almudena, who has more than 235,000 followers on the platform, described the ordeal as the “worst day of her life” in a 4.5-minute video uploaded Tuesday.

According to her account, she was part of a 14-person group, including her parents and 6-year-old daughter, that set off on an all-day boat tour from the city of Iquitos, a popular jumping-off point to explore the rainforest.

“We contracted a family tour, a sightseeing tour, and we ended up being kidnapped,” she said.

Four men armed with pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and sailed it deep into the forest, said de la Almudena, where they took everyone’s belongings and even the vessel’s motor.

“Through mobile phone applications, they asked us to take the money out of our accounts and transfer it to one of their accounts, otherwise they would not leave,” she added.

“I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone,” de la Almudena said.

The passengers then took pieces of wood from the boat and used them to row down the river, where they came upon a family in another boat that towed them to safety, she said.

De la Almudena claimed that the tour company, Canopy Tours Iquitos, had no GPS tracker on the boat, no insurance and no security measures in place, despite the fact that she was later told that this kind of incident has happened in the area before.

“We were completely abandoned by the people that were supposed to look after us,” she said.

In response, Canopy Tours Iquitos said the incident, which occurred on May 14, was a chance event outside of its control that “was immediately reported to the authorities.”

“We activated our emergency protocols straight away, offered our assistance to the affected group and have been actively cooperating with the investigation,” the company said in a Facebook post published Tuesday.

In addition, the company said it would strengthen security measures, including introducing GPS monitoring, closer cooperation with the police and more training for staff.

According to the US State Department, travelers to Peru should “exercise increased caution due to crime, civil unrest, and the risk of kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk.”

In a travel advisory update published May 16, the department underlined that “crime is common in Peru.”

“Petty theft, carjackings, muggings, assaults, and other violent crime often happen even in daylight hours and with many witnesses around. Kidnapping is rare, but it does occur,” it said.