UNITED NATIONS/PARIS/GAZA/JERUSALEM – The United Nations condemns unequivocally Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's remarks about intentionally killing people in Gaza, a UN spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Asked whether UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns Ben-Gvir's remarks that 30 to 40 people should be killed every night in Gaza in targeted assassinations, the secretary-general's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said: "These remarks are appalling. They are outrageous. They are dehumanizing. And they are dangerous. And we condemn them unequivocally."

The Israeli minister made the shocking remarks in a podcast published over the weekend.

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"I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat -- there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn't live. They're not even people," said he said in a conversation with Rom Braslavski, a former Israeli hostage held in Gaza, on the latter's podcast.

‘Inhumane’ remarks

Also, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot described Ben-Gvir's recent remarks on Gaza as "insupportable and inhumane," according to French daily La Montagne.

"What is happening today in the West Bank is utterly disgraceful and should revolt us all," Barrot said the same day. "That is why we sanctioned Minister Ben-Gvir, whose recent remarks are insupportable and inhumane."

On May 23, Barrot announced on social media that Ben-Gvir was banned from entering France with immediate effect.

Probes into killings

The Israeli military said Wednesday that it would open criminal investigations into the killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab in Gaza and a separate case in which troops killed 15 Palestinians, including medics and a UN employee.

The decisions followed reviews by the military's Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism, which examines exceptional wartime incidents. About 150 cases have been reviewed since the war began in October 2023. On Wednesday, it released conclusions about five cases of the killing of Palestinians.

Rajab was found dead with members of her family in Gaza City in early 2024, days after she was trapped in a car under Israeli fire and pleaded by telephone with emergency workers for help. Two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics sent to rescue her were also killed.

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The military said its review found "failures" in coordinating the movement of the ambulance and that the case would be investigated by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division.

A separate criminal investigation will examine the killing of 15 Palestinians in Tel al-Sultan in southern Gaza in March 2025 after Israeli troops fired on ambulances, a fire truck and a UN vehicle. The military said the shooting raised a "reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct."

The probe also examined the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in April 2024. The military said it found "no reasonable suspicion of criminal misconduct that would justify the opening of a criminal investigation."

Separately, Israeli forces arrested at least 31 Palestinians on Wednesday during raids in various areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center and Palestinian Prisoners Club, two non-governmental organizations.  

Airstrike on Hamas-run police HQ

At least nine Palestinians, including a woman, were killed Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a Hamas-run municipal police headquarters in central Gaza City, according to Palestinian sources.

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A brief press statement issued by the police force said that Israeli aircraft targeted the police headquarters, resulting in a number of casualties.

Medical sources told Xinhua that at least nine people were killed, and 15 others sustained injuries and were transferred to hospitals in Gaza City.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli military released a statement, saying it carried out two airstrikes, one in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip and the other in Gaza City's Tuffah area. The strikes targeted two Hamas commanders, according to the statement.

Israeli curfew

An Israeli military operation launched in the southern West Bank on Wednesday put an estimated 40,000 Palestinian residents under curfew, blocking their access to daily necessities, UN humanitarians said.

"This is having an immediate humanitarian impact because people cannot replenish supplies, access essential services or just get to their workplaces," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

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The office said the operation launched in Adh Dhahiriya in Hebron governorate, about 30 km south of Jerusalem, had snipers on rooftops and blocked roads with earth mounds. Partners estimated roughly 40,000 people, including children, were not permitted to leave their homes.

In its daily news update, OCHA said its partners reported that about seven Palestinian homes were also used as interrogation centers, after Israeli forces confined families to single rooms. There were also several arrests reported.

Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a regular briefing Wednesday that Guterres is deeply alarmed by the reports of new illegal Israeli settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank and urges Israel to refrain from taking any further steps in this regard and to act in accordance with relevant UN resolutions.