Israel claims its forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in the Gaza Strip. There has been no comment from Hamas on Sinwar, who succeeded Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh after his assassination by Israel in July.

    At least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza following the killing of at least 28 people, including children, in an Israeli attack on a UN shelter in northern Gaza’s Jabalia.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says “this is not the end of the war in Gaza”, after claiming Sinwar was killed.

    Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon, the military said, and nine others “seriously injured” in combat in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

    In Gaza, at least 42,438 people have been killed and 99,246 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and more than 200 were taken captive.

    Reported killing of Sinwar neither intelligence based nor targeted assassination: Analyst

    Elijah Magnier, a military and political analyst, said the Israeli and US characterisation of how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was reportedly killed is far from the reality.

    “It is not at all an intelligence operation nor a targeted assassination,” Magnier told Al Jazeera.

    “It’s a clash between three people, three militants who were in a location and opened fire against soldiers who are invading Rafah,” Magnier said.

    Israeli forces “opened fire from their tank, destroying the location and this is how, the next day, they found Sinwar with another commander in a house above the ground and not in tunnels,” he said.

    “Everybody is claiming victory, quoting intelligence collaboration … Shin Bet from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Kamala Harris saying we have been collaborating to make sure that we reach out and arrest or bring to justice all of the Hamas leaders, which has nothing to do with the reality of the event on the ground,” he added.

    WHO accuses Israel of blocking medical specialists from entering Gaza

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has accused Israel of barring medical specialists from entering Gaza to support clinics in the besieged enclave, according to German news agency DPA.

    The WHO said eight organisations and more than 50 specialist personnel have been affected by Israel’s blockade since August. The specialists, who intended to give various medical services to patients and psychological support to healthcare workers, were blocked from working in medical facilities including the European Gaza Hospital and the Nasser Hospital.

    Israeli authorities have denied two medical organisations, Glia and US nonprofit the Palestinian American Medical Association, from entering Gaza, the groups said this week.

    This marks the first instance in which Israel has denied entire aid organisations access to Gaza, according to the WHO.

    Halting US arms shipments to Israel, not killing Sinwar, will lead to Gaza ceasefire: Analyst

    Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and international adviser to Jewish Voice for Peace, told Al Jazeera the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will not lead to a ceasefire in Gaza.

    “There has been a path to a ceasefire all along and it has to start with the US ending its shipment of arms that enables the war to continue,” Bennis told Al Jazeera.

    “I don’t think that there is going to be any change if Blinken goes to the region or if Biden calls Netanyahu. None of that really matters. Their words don’t matter if their actions don’t change and if the actions continue to be sending Israel all of the weapons that they require to enable this war, this genocide to continue,” Bennis said.

    “There is no reason in the world that they should see the death of one more Hamas leader – this time Yahya Sinwar – as a change. The war has been against the entire population of Gaza not against one man,” she said.