Four Palestinians die in storming of UN food warehouse a day after gunfire at new Gaza aid site

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hundreds of Palestinians stormed a United Nations food warehouse Wednesday in Gaza in a desperate attempt to get something to eat, shouting and shoving each other and ripping off pieces of the building to get inside. Four people died in the chaos, hospital officials said.

The deaths came a day after a crowd was fired upon while overrunning a new aid-distribution sitein Gaza set up by an Israeli and U.S.-backed foundation, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding 48 others, Gaza's Health Ministry said.

The Israeli military, which guards the site from a distance, said it fired only warning shots to control the situation. The foundation said its military contractors guarding the site did not open fire. A Red Cross field hospital said the 48 people wounded suffered gunshot wounds, including women and children.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country killed senior Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, the brother of Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds of the militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, who was killed by Israeli forces last year. Speaking before parliament, Netanyahu included Mohammed Sinwar in a list of Hamas leaders killed by Israeli forces, apparently confirming his death in a recent airstrike in Gaza.

In other developments, Israel carried out airstrikes on the international airport in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, destroying the last plane belonging to the country's flagship airline. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said it was the last plane used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or wounded in the strikes, which came after Houthi rebels fired several missiles at Israel in recent days, without causing casualties.

The Israeli-backed distribution hub outside Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah was opened Monday by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has been slated by Israel to take over aid operations.

The crowd of Palestinians broke through fences Tuesday around the distribution site where thousands had gathered. An Associated Press journalist heard Israeli tank and gunfire and saw a military helicopter firing flares.

The U.N. and other humanitarian organizations have rejected the new aid system, saying it will not be able to feed Gaza’s 2.3 million people and that it lets Israel use food to control the population. They have also warned of the risk of friction between Israeli troops and people seeking supplies.

Palestinians burst into the U.N.'s World Food Program warehouse Wednesday in central Gaza. Two people were fatally crushed in the crowd, while two others died of gunshot wounds, officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said.

Scores of aid-seekers could be seen carrying large bags of flour as they fought their way back out into the sunlight through throngs of people pressing to get inside. Each bag of flour weighs around 25 kilograms (55 pounds).

A United Nations envoy compared the limited aid being allowed into Gaza to “a lifeboat after the ship has sunk.” Sigrid Kaag, acting U.N. special coordinator for the Mideast, told the U.N. Security Council that people facing famine in Gaza “have lost hope.”

“Instead of saying ‘goodbye,’ Palestinians in Gaza now say, ’See you in heaven,’” Kaag said.

The World Food Program said “humanitarian needs have spiraled out of control" after Israel's long blockade of supplies entering Gaza, which began in early March to pressure Hamas.

The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. broke down as he spoke of the 1,300 children killed and 4,000 wounded since Israel ended the latest ceasefire in March, and of mothers seen “embracing their motionless bodies, caressing their hair, talking to them, apologizing to them.”

“If this is civilized,” Riyad Mansour said, “what is barbarism?”

Wael Tabsh, a displaced man from the city of Khan Younis, urged world leaders to help end the war.

“How long will this torture last?" he asked.

Palestinians are desperate for food after nearly three months of Israeli border closures have pushed Gaza to the brink of famine.

Israel says it helped establish the new aid mechanism to prevent Hamas from siphoning off supplies, but it has provided no evidence of systematic diversion, and U.N. agencies say they have mechanisms in place to prevent it while delivering aid to all parts of the territory.

GHF says it has established four hubs, two of which have begun operating in the now mostly uninhabited Rafah. It said around eight truckloads of aid were distributed at the hubs on Wednesday without incident.

About 600 trucks entered Gaza every day during the ceasefire earlier this year.

The GHF sites are guarded by private security contractors and have chain-link fences channeling Palestinians into a what resemble military bases surrounded by large sand berms. Israeli forces are stationed nearby in a military zone separating Rafah from the rest of the territory.

The U.N. and other aid groups have refused to participate in GHF’s system, saying it violates humanitarian principles. They say it can be used by Israel to forcibly displace the population by requiring them to move near the few distribution hubs or else face starvation, a violation of international law.

Netanyahu said Tuesday there was only a brief “loss of control” at the site.

He repeated that Israel plans to move Gaza’s entire population to a “sterile zone” at the southern end of the territory while troops fight Hamas elsewhere. Netanyahu has also vowed to facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of Gaza's population to other countries, a plan that Palestinians and many others view as forcible expulsion.

The Israeli strikes on the main airport in Yemen destroyed the last plane belonging to the country’s flagship carrier, Yemenia, according to the airport. The airline did not say if anyone was wounded.

Yemenia had a total of four registered aircraft, according to the plane-tracking website FlightRadar24. Israel destroyed three in a May 6 airstrike on the airport that also riddled the runway with craters.

Houthi-backed Yemeni President Mahdi al-Mashat visited the airport Wednesday and said his group “will not back down” from its support of people in Gaza until the siege ends, according to SABA Yemen News Agency.

The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians, raising their profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel.

The Houthi missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defense systems, causing casualties and damage. Israel has frequently struck back, especially around the vital Hodeida port.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in the Oct. 7 attack, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefire deals or other agreements. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up most of the dead, but it does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally.

Magdy reported from Cairo, and Lidman reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Edith Lederer in New York contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry bags of flour after storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians storming a U.N. World Food Program warehouse and carry bags of flour in Zawaida, Central Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry food and humanitarian aid delivered by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after receiving the supplies in Rafah, as they arrive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry boxes of food and humanitarian aid delivered by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after receiving the supplies in Rafah, as they arrive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian man carries humanitarian aid delivered by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after receiving the supplies in Rafah, as he arrive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian youth carries food and humanitarian aid delivered by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after receiving the supplies in Rafah, as he arrive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry food and humanitarian aid delivered by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, after receiving the supplies in Rafah, as they arrive in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Ajith Sunghay, head of the U.N. Human Rights Office for the Palestinian territories, speaks at a news conference with the U.N. Geneva press association ACANU, in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jamey Keaten)

Palestinians carry boxes containing food and humanitarian aid packages delivered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed organization approved by Israel, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

TOKYO (AP) — He turns 59 in February, and the globe's oldest professional soccer player has a new club as he gets set for his 41st season.

This is of course Kazuyoshi Miura who is known in Japan as “King Kazu."

Miura announced his signing this week with third-division J-League team Fukushima United. He is moving on loan from Yokohama FC and spent last season on loan with fourth-division club Atletico Suzuka.

He failed to score in seven matches with Suzuka.

Miura has played professionally in Brazil, Italy, Croatia, Australia and Portugal. And of course in Japan. He made his debut in 1986 with Santos in Brazil, a club made famous by Brazilian star Pelé.

In 2017 at age 50, he became the oldest player to score in a professional match. That topped the record held by highly decorated England international Stanley Matthews.

Miura was one of the first big names in Japanese soccer. He scored 55 goals in 89 appearance and was a star with Japan’s national team in the 1990s.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura speaks during a press conference as he joins third-division J-League team Fukushima United in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (Yuya Shino/Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura poses with uniform of third-division J-League team Fukushima United. during a press conference in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 9, 2026. (Yuya Shino/Kyodo News via AP)

Japanese soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura speaks during a press conference in Suzuka, central Japan, on Nov. 30, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)