Israel rejects international criticism of Gaza City takeover plan

3 hours ago Share Save Jaroslav Lukiv BBC News Share Save

Reuters Benjamin Netanyahu's office says a newly adopted five-point plan is aimed "defeating Hamas" and "concluding the war"

Israel has strongly rejected criticism from world leaders after its security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City. Defence Minister Israel Katz said countries that condemned Israel and threatened sanctions would "not weaken our resolve". "Our enemies will find us as one strong, united fist that will strike them with great force," he added. Israel's decision to expand its war in Gaza sparked condemnation from the UN and several countries including the UK, France and Canada, and prompted Germany to halt military exports to Israel.

The plan, approved by the Israeli security cabinet, lists five "principles" for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing "an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority". Reports in Israeli media say the plan initially focuses on taking full control of Gaza City, relocating its estimated one million residents further south. Forces would also take control of refugee camps in central Gaza and areas where hostages are thought to be held. A second offensive would follow weeks later in parallel with a boost in humanitarian aid, media say. The move to escalate the conflict has drawn fierce opposition from some within Israel, including from military officials and the families of hostages being held in Gaza. Hamas has said the plan to occupy Gaza City "constitutes a new war crime" and will "cost [Israel] dearly". UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned that further escalation would "result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes". In other reaction: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called the move "wrong", saying it would "only bring more bloodshed" Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Israel "not to go down this path", saying it would "only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza" Turkey's foreign ministry urged the world community to prevent Israel's plan which aimed to "forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land" In China, a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP news agency: "Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory". Netanyahu told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz he was disappointed with Berlin's decision to suspend arms exports to Israel, saying it was "rewarding Hamas terrorism".

In Israel itself, families of the remaining hostages in Gaza have warned that the lives of the 20 believed to have survived will be put in peril. The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said the decision was leading "toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers". The US has been less critical. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy the Gaza Strip.

Watch: 'Chilling' aerial video shows Gaza in ruins

The IDF currently controls about three-quarters of Gaza, and almost all of its 2.1 million citizens are situated in the quarter of the territory that the military does not control. The UN estimates some 87% of Gaza is either in militarised zones or under evacuation orders.

There are areas in central Gaza and along the Mediterranean coast that Israel does not occupy, according to the UN. These include refugee camps, where much of Gaza's population is now living after their homes were destroyed by Israel's military action.

Police 'sat on information' before man, 80, killed

5 hours ago Share Save Navtej Johal BBC News, Midlands correspondent Katie Thompson BBC News Share Save

Supplied Bhim Kohli died on 2 September last year, a day after he was attacked while walking his dog

Police "sat on information" that could have prevented a fatal attack on an elderly man due to shift patterns and a bank holiday, his daughter has said. Bhim Kohli, 80, was punched and kicked by a 14-year-old boy while a girl, 12, filmed the attack in September - two weeks after he had witnessed another Asian man being racially abused and assaulted by two other boys nearby. Now a report - given to Susan Kohli - shows police knew the identities of the pair involved in the previous assault days after it happened, but did not arrest them until after her father's death. Leicestershire Police said it had identified "organisational learning" for logging anti-social behaviour.

Warning: This article contains racially-offensive language Ms Kohli believes her father "would still be here" had police acted sooner over the previous attack, which occurred on 17 August 2024 near Franklin Park in Braunstone Town, Leicestershire - about two weeks before Mr Kohli's death following the assault at the same park. She has questioned the delay between identifying the perpetrators and arresting them three days after her father's killing. Ms Kohli has called on the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), to review the investigation again. She said: "You [the police] sat on it for over two weeks and didn't do anything - it could have sent a message around to the estate. "When you have either police presence or you take action or have firm words with children that are from the estate, from the same school, word gets around. "Word would have got around to say, 'you know what? We might need to be cautious about being around this area'." Mr Kohli had been walking his dog Rocky when he was attacked on 1 September. He died the day after he was subjected to the "seven-and-a-half minute period of continuing aggression", for which the boy and girl, now aged 15 and 13 respectively, were both convicted of manslaughter. The boy was sentenced to seven years in custody, while the girl was given a youth rehabilitation order of three years and made subject to a six-month curfew.

Footage of the earlier attack was filmed by Susan Kohli

Meanwhile, the victim of the 17 August 2024 attack was targeted by two white boys, aged 12 and 13, who threw a large rock at him yards from Mr Kohli's house. The pair - who were not involved in Mr Kohli's death - spat at the man, repeatedly threw stones at him, taunted him and shouted at him to "go back to your village". Near the end of footage, filmed by Ms Kohli, one of the boys can be heard using a four-letter racial slur and telling the man his dad is a "curry muncher". Ms Kohli, her father and others intervened in the unprovoked attack on the man - who wishes to remain anonymous - after the boys picked up a large log from the park. Police were called and Mr Kohli told officers he had witnessed the assault. The boys were arrested on 5 September, three days after Mr Kohli's death. They appeared in youth court in Leicester in December charged with racially or religiously aggravated common assault, which they admitted. They were dealt with out of court by way of a deferred youth caution following a referral to the youth justice panel for an out-of-court disposal - a process aimed at diverting young people away from the criminal justice system where possible.

A rock - like these pictured in the area - was thrown at the man by two children

During the trial of Mr Kohli's killers, the court was told about an occasion "a week or two" before his death when the convicted girl was present while other children threw apples at him. The jury was also shown a video she had filmed on her phone of another Asian man having a water balloon thrown at him and being racially abused. And the BBC was previously told it was reported to police that in July last year, Mr Kohli had stones thrown at him, was spat at and had been racially abused by a group of children after he told them to get off his neighbour's garage roof. After Mr Kohli's death, Leicestershire Police conducted an investigation - reviewed by the IOPC - into the case and the force's previous contact with Mr Kohli, which did not identify any "misconduct or missed opportunities which could have prevented his death". A report detailing the investigation, seen by the BBC, reveals a further eight reports of similar incidents between June and August last year have been made to the police since Mr Kohli's death. It also shows that a PCSO had identified the boys involved in the 17 August 2024 assault four days after it happened in footage on the police system. They were arrested on 5 September.

Susan Kohli wants the police investigation to be reviewed again

In an email, Ms Kohli was told the officer in charge of the investigation into the assault on 17 August 2024 was on rest days, early and night shifts - and there was a bank holiday weekend - so "demand on policing would have been high". It states the matter was "not so serious" for others to deal with it in the officer's absence. The force told Ms Kohli it believed the decisions made were "appropriate". She said: "How is that a response to not go out... to have words with these boys or arrest them?"

Mr Kohli was found injured in Franklin Park by his children

Ms Kohli said it was only when she was given the report, which has not been made public, that she was made aware of the delay and sought further information from police. She added: "I'm disappointed with not just Leicestershire Police, but I'm also disappointed with the IOPC. "It worries me that the IOPC didn't ask for that information." The report concluded any action, or lack of action by police, did not cause or contribute to Mr Kohli's death. Ms Kohli disagrees. "It comes down to the delays... to take the required action," she said. "I think my dad would still be here. There's a possibility that my dad would still be here and that's what makes me angry. "Your report is constantly saying there was nothing that Leicestershire Police could have done. There's a lot that they could have done, but they chose unfortunately not to. "Leicestershire Police need to hold some accountability."

CCTV showed the moments before Mr Kohli was fatally attacked

Ch Supt Jonathan Starbuck, of Leicestershire Police, said the force recognised the concerns raised by Ms Kohli regarding anti-social behaviour in the Franklin Park area during the summer of 2024. He added: "We continue to monitor the area of Franklin Park and have engaged with the community through a local survey, drop-in centres, engagement with local schools, youth work and proactive policing patrols." A spokesperson for the IOPC said it had reviewed Leicestershire Police's report into the investigation. They said: "We agreed with their finding that police officers did proactively investigate matters reported to them and there was nothing to indicate any officers or police staff committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying disciplinary proceedings. "And we agreed with learning identified by the force in respect of accurately recording and tagging incidents of anti-social behaviour, thus ensuring incidents can be dealt with appropriately and to support the long-term management and deterrence of ASB." The sentence given to the boy, who was convicted of Mr Kohli's manslaughter, is set to be reviewed. The Attorney General's Office has referred the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. A bid to have the boy's sentence increased is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.

Sturgeon memoir describes arrest as 'worst day of my life'

4 hours ago Share Save James Cook • @BBCJamesCook Scotland Editor Craig Williams BBC Scotland News Share Save

Getty Images Nicola Sturgeon's memoir Frankly is due to be published next week

Scotland's former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has described her arrest by police investigating the SNP's finances as the worst day of her life. Sturgeon describes being questioned by detectives as part of Operation Branchform in an extract from her upcoming memoir which has been published in The Times. Sturgeon also writes about her "utter disbelief" about police raiding the home she shared with her husband Peter Murrell in April 2023. Elsewhere in the extracts, the former SNP leader describes the pain of suffering a miscarriage and sets out her views on sexuality, which she says she does not consider "to be binary".

Sturgeon writes that she was in bed when her husband answered the door to police officers around 07:00 on 5 April 2023. "It was with a sense of utter disbelief that I realised the police were in my home, that they had a warrant to arrest my husband and search the house," she writes. "I was in despair, struggling to comprehend what had happened."

Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023. She was told in March this year that she would face no further action and was no longer a suspect. Her husband, the former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, was charged with embezzlement in April 2024. The couple announced they were separating earlier this year. Sturgeon said that during the period between the raid on their home in April 2023 and her arrest she felt like she "had fallen into the plot of a dystopian novel." When she was arrested, she was: "Horrified and devastated, though also relieved in a strange sort of way. At least the ordeal of waiting was over. "Sunday, June 11, was the worst day of my life. Being arrested and questioned by the police is an experience I'm not sure I will ever get over. "When I eventually left the police station, late that afternoon, I was in a bad state mentally. I went to a friend's house in the northeast of Scotland and stayed for a week." She said the day when she was informed that no action would be taken against her, a day on which Mr Murrell appeared again in court, was "a day of deeply mixed emotions." "The feeling of relief, and release, was overwhelming," she writes.

Nicola Sturgeon describes the experience of having the media camped outside her home during the Branchform investigation

Sturgeon also talks in detail about her experience of becoming pregnant and suffering a miscarriage aged 40 in 2010. She said she had never yearned for a baby but her husband desperately wanted to be a dad. When she found out she was pregnant, she writes, "Peter was ecstatic. I wanted to be. I told him I was. But — and I still feel so guilty about this — I was deeply conflicted. "In my stupid, work-obsessed mind the timing couldn't have been worse. By the Scottish election, I would be six months pregnant. It may seem hard to believe now, but even in 2010 it wasn't obvious how voters would react to a heavily pregnant candidate," she writes. Sturgeon writes about the guilt she felt at being conflicted about the pregnancy and the guilt she now feels after miscarrying. "Later, what I would feel most guilty about were the days I had wished I wasn't pregnant. There's still a part of me that sees what happened as my punishment for that," she writes. She also describes continuing to work while suffering "constant agony, the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced" and feeling "heartbroken" about the loss. Sturgeon says that she was convinced the baby would have been a girl called Isla, writing: "I do deeply regret not getting the chance to be Isla's mum. "It might not make sense, but she feels real to me. And I know that I will mourn her for the rest of my life."

Sturgeon was appearing at an event in Glasgow on Friday evening

Jim Lovell, who guided Apollo 13 safely back to Earth, dies aged 97

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NASA

Astronaut Jim Lovell, who guided the Apollo 13 mission safely back to Earth in 1970, has died aged 97. Nasa said he had "turned a potential tragedy into a success" after an attempt to land on the Moon was aborted because of an explosion onboard the spacecraft while it was hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth. Tens of millions watched on television as Lovell and two other astronauts splashed back down into the Pacific Ocean, a moment which has become one of the most iconic in the history of space travel. Lovell, who was also part of the Apollo 8 mission, was the first man to go to the Moon twice - but never actually landed. Acting Nasa head Sean Duffy said Lovell had helped the US space programme to "forge a historic path". In a statement, Lovell's family said: "We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind."

Teenage rocket maker

One Saturday, a 16-year-old hauled a heavy, three-foot tube into the middle of a large field in Wisconsin. He had persuaded his science teacher to help him make a makeshift rocket. Somehow, he had managed to get his hands on the ingredients for gunpowder - potassium nitrate, sulphur and charcoal. He pulled on a welder's helmet for protection. He packed it with powder, struck a match and ran like hell. The rocket rose 80 feet into the air and exploded. Had the chemicals been packed slightly differently, he would have been blown to pieces. For Jim Lovell, this was more than a childish lark. In achieving his dream to be a rocket scientist, he would become an American hero. But it was not going to be easy.

Getty Images The crew of the ill-fated Apollo 13: Jack Swigert, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise

James Arthur Lovell Jr was born on 25 March 1928 - just a year after Charles Lindbergh made his historic trip across the Atlantic. "Boys like either dinosaurs or airplanes," he said. "I was very much an airplane boy." But when he was five years old, his father died in a car accident. His mother, Blanche, worked all hours - struggling to keep food on the table. University was well beyond their financial reach.

Navy pilot

The answer was the US Navy, which was hungry for new pilots after World War Two. It wasn't building rockets but at least it involved flying. Lovell signed up to a programme that sent him to college at the military's expense while training as a fighter pilot. Two years in, he gambled and switched to the Navy Academy at Annapolis, on Chesapeake Bay, in the hope of working with his beloved rockets. It was a lucky decision. A few months later, the Korean War broke out and his former fellow apprentice pilots were sent to South East Asia. Many never got to finish their education. Marriage was banned at Annapolis and girlfriends discouraged. The navy did not want its midshipmen wasting their time on such frivolities. But Lovell had a sweetheart. Marilyn Gerlach was the high school girl he'd shyly asked to the prom. Women were not allowed on campus and trips outside were limited to 45 minutes. Somehow the relationship survived. Just hours after his graduation in 1952, the newly commissioned Ensign Lovell married her. They would be together for more than 70 years, until Marilyn's death in 2023.

Getty Images Jim and Marilyn Lovell were high school sweethearts

He did everything he could to advertise his love of rocketry. His thesis at the Navy Academy was in the unheard of topic of liquid-fuel engines. After graduation, he hoped to specialise in this pioneering new technology. But the navy had other ideas. Lovell was assigned to an aircraft carrier group flying Banshee jets off ships at night. It was a white-knuckle, high-wire business fit only for daredevils. But for Lovell, it wasn't enough.

Space

In 1958, he applied to Nasa. Project Mercury was America's attempt to place a man in orbit around the Earth. Jim Lovell was one of the 110 test pilots considered for selection but a temporary liver condition put paid to his chances. Four years later, he tried again. In June 1962, after gruelling medical tests, Nasa announced its "New Nine". These would be the men to deliver on President Kennedy's pledge to put American boots on the Moon. It was the most elite group of flying men ever assembled. They included Neil Armstrong, John Young and, fulfilling his childhood dream, Jim Lovell.

Getty Images Apollo 8 was Nasa's most dangerous mission yet

Three years later he was ready. His first trip into space was aboard the two-man Gemini 7. Lovell and fellow astronaut Frank Borman ate a steak-and-eggs breakfast and blasted off. Their mission: to find out if men could survive two weeks in space. If not, the Moon was out of reach. The endurance record complete, Lovell's next flight was in command of Gemini 12 alongside space rookie, Buzz Aldrin. This time they proved that man could work outside a spacecraft. Aldrin clambered awkwardly into the void, spending five hours photographing star fields. Now for the Moon itself. The crew of Apollo 8 would be the first to travel beyond low Earth orbit and enter the gravitational pull of another celestial body. It was Nasa's most dangerous mission yet.

Earthrise

The Saturn V rocket that shot Lovell, Borman and William Anders out of our atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour was huge - three times larger than anything seen on the Gemini programme. As navigator, Lovell took with him a sextant to take star readings - in case the computers failed and they had to find their own way home. Sixty-eight hours after take-off, they made it. The engines fired and Apollo 8 slid silently behind the Moon. The men heard a crackle in their headsets as the radio signal to Mission Control faltered and then failed. The spellbound astronauts pinned themselves to the windows, the first humans to see the far side of our nearest celestial neighbour. And then, from over the advancing horizon, an incredible sight. "Earthrise," gasped Borman. "Get the camera, quick," said Lovell.

Getty Images The image of Earth from Space captivated the World

It was Christmas Eve 1968. America was mired in Vietnam abroad and civil unrest at home. But at that moment, it seemed that humanity was united. The people of the world saw their planet as the astronauts saw it - fragile and beautiful - shining in the desolation of space. Lovell read from the Book of Genesis, the basis of many of the world's great religions, to the people of the Earth. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." For him, it was an image that changed our world forever. He put his thumb against the window and the whole world disappeared behind it. It was the most moving experience of his life. As the spacecraft re-emerged from the darkness, Lovell was first to announce the good news. "Please be advised," he said as the radio crackled back into life, "there is a Santa Claus." At that very moment, 239,000 miles away, a man in a blue Rolls-Royce pulled up outside Lovell's house in Houston. He walked past the dozens of reporters camped outside and handed a box to Marilyn. She opened the star-patterned tissue paper and pulled out a mink jacket. "Happy Christmas," said the card that came with it, "and love from the Man in the Moon."

Getty Images President Lyndon B Johnson, like millions of others, sat glued to his television sets during the Apollo 8 mission

They went up as astronauts and came down celebrities. The people of the Earth had followed their every move on TV. There were ticker tape parades, congressional honours and a place on the cover of Time Magazine. And they hadn't even set foot on the Moon. That honour went, of course, to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. A year later, Kennedy's dream was posthumously seen to fruition. A small step was taken and mankind took its giant leap. The New Nine had done their job.

'Houston, we've had a problem'

In April 1970, it was Jim Lovell's turn. Fortunately, the crew of Apollo 13 did not believe in unlucky numbers. Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise were men of science - highly trained and determined to follow Armstrong and Aldrin to the lunar surface. But things went badly wrong. They were 200,000 miles above the Earth and closing in on their target when they spotted low pressure in a hydrogen tank. It needed a stir to stop the super cold gas settling into layers. Swigert flicked the switch. It should have been a routine procedure but the command module, Odyssey, shuddered. Oxygen pressure fell and power shut down. "I believe we've had a problem here," said Swigert. Lovell had to repeat the message to a stunned Mission Control: "Houston, we've had a problem." It was one of the greatest understatements of all time. The crew were in big trouble - a dramatic explosion had disabled their craft.

Getty Images Flight controllers at Nasa working out how to get the crippled Apollo 13 back to Earth.

Haise and Lovell worked frantically to boot up the lunar module, Aquarius. It was not supposed to be used until they got to the Moon. It had no heat shield, so could not be used to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. But it could keep them alive until they got there. The world stopped breathing and watched. For a second time, Jim Lovell had brought the world together as one. The first time it had been for Earthrise, the second would be to witness his fight to survive. “For four days," said Marilyn, "I didn’t know if I was a wife or a widow." Temperatures fell to freezing, food and water were rationed. It was days before they limped back to the fringes of Earth's atmosphere. They climbed back aboard the Odyssey and prayed the heat shield had not been damaged. The radio silence that accompanies re-entry went on far longer than normal. Millions watched on TV, many convinced that all was lost. After six agonising minutes, Jack Swigert's voice cut through the silence. The team on the ground held its breath until the parachutes deployed and the crew was safely down. The mission was Nasa's greatest failure and, without question, its finest hour.

Getty Images Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert are rescued from the Pacific Ocean after their dramatic escape

MP mistook charity rowers as possible 'illegal migrants'

2 hours ago Share Save Neve Gordon-Farleigh BBC News, Norfolk Share Save

Andrew Turner/BBC Rupert Lowe says he will now be donating £1,000 to charity after his mistake

An MP has admitted he mistakenly thought a charity rowing crew could have been "illegal migrants". Independent MP Rupert Lowe shared a picture on X on Thursday, showing a boat close to wind turbines off the Norfolk coast, and wrote: "Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW". HM Coastguard contacted the crew to confirm their identities and it was revealed the boat contained a team of charity rowers attempting to travel from Land's End, Cornwall, to John O'Groats, Caithness. In a later post, Lowe said: "As a well done to the crew, I'll donate £1,000 to their charity - raising money for MND (motor neurone disease)."

The charity rowers described their confusion following Rupert Lowe's message and the subsequent reaction

Lowe posted about the boat at about 20:25 BST and said he had alerted the authorities. He wrote: "Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. "If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. "Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW." However, at 06:38 on Friday, he explained the "unknown vessel" was a false alarm. He said: "We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents - I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. "No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal immigrants!"

Rupert Lowe/X Great Yarmouth MP Rupert Lowe posted the picture on X saying he would be "using every tool" to ensure they were deported

Lowe has been vocal in his calls for stronger measures to tackle illegal migration, advocating mass deportations. He was elected as a Reform UK MP last year but was expelled from the party in March, amid claims of threats towards its chairman, Zia Yusuf. Lowe denied the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service said he would not face criminal charges. The crew of four, which included Mike Bates, a British record-holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, said they found the post "hilarious". Mr Bates said: "I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us. "I've not been mistaken for a migrant before. "The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I'm a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat."

Robby West/BBC Mike Bates (left) said it was "almost vigilante-style" how people watched and followed them down the beach

Mr Bates said it was "almost vigilante-style" how people followed them down the beach. Fellow crew member Matthew Parker said they had been trying find shelter and wait for the tide to turn when they saw a drone flying above and people starting to gather on the shoreline. "You've got these people on the shoreline flashing torches at us," he said. "We've got the coastguard asking us questions, a police car arrives on the beach with its lights on - how has this managed to get escalated this way? "I just thought it was ridiculous." team of four had set off from Land's End on 25 July and headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. The team turned around and returned to Land's End and then started their challenge again in the other direction. So far they have raised more than £100,000 for charity and hope to raise even more. Mr Bates said: "We're rowing for hope, we're rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we'll raise £57m - we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us."

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'It's become a game for Israel': Gaza City residents fear takeover plans

9 hours ago Share Save Rushdi Abualouf, Tom Bennett & Adnan El-Bursh BBC News Share Save

'A death sentence for us all': Gazans' fears over takeover plan

Residents of Gaza City have told the BBC they are living in fear after the Israeli government announced plans to takeover the territory's largest city. "We are peaceful civilians. We have nothing to do with what is happening. Netanyahu knows that," said resident Abu Mohammad. "All this pressure is on us, not on Hamas. The movement's leaders and their families are abroad. They're not here among us." Under the plans announced last night - and agreed by Israel's security cabinet - the Israeli military would take control of Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of people, with a view, it says, to disarming Hamas, freeing the hostages, and establishing security control over the Strip.

The plan has been met with heavy condemnation by much of the international community, with United Nations (UN) human rights chief Volker Türk saying it would "result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes". One woman, speaking to a BBC team on a busy Gaza City street, said it was "going to be totally disastrous".

AFP Israeli air strikes continued in Gaza City on Friday

AFP

"And it's going to be a death sentence to every Palestinian, I think the whole population in Gaza will be killed, either by bombardment or by hunger." Local resident Dr Hatem Qanoua said: "We're collapsing across every aspect of life: food, education, healthcare. Even if the war ends, we'll suffer for years." He added: "I'm very afraid for my children and all the innocent people who may die. I'm over fifty, if I die, it doesn't matter. But what about the children? They've never lived a normal life. They've only known death, destruction, and deprivation." More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli military began its operation, in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Since the start of 2025, at least 99 people, including 29 children under the age of five, have died of malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization - which says its figures are likely underestimates.

Anadolu via Getty Images UN agencies have warned of ongoing severe food shortages across the strip

US diplomat says UK would have lost WW2 with Starmer as leader

4 hours ago Share Save Amy Walker BBC News Share Save

Reuters The US ambassador to Israel has criticised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's reaction to Israel's Gaza City takeover plan

The UK would have lost World War Two if Sir Keir Starmer had been its leader at the time, the US ambassador to Israel has suggested in an attack on the prime minister's response to Israel's Gaza City takeover plan. In a post on social media, Mike Huckabee wrote: "So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?" "Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? ... If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!" he said. His comments come after Starmer condemned Israel's plans to take over Gaza City as "wrong" and urged its government to immediately reconsider its decision "to further escalate its offensive".

A spokesperson for No 10 said they had nothing to add to Starmer's comments. In his post on X on Friday, in which he reposted a statement by Starmer, Huckabee said: "Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? "That wasn't food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!" During World War Two, British and American forces dropped 4,000 tons of bombs on the eastern German city over two days, killing tens of thousands of civilians. Starmer's earlier statement said: "The Israeli Government's decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. "This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed," he added. In the early hours of Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to take over Gaza's capital, in a controversial escalation of its war in the territory. Netanyahu has previously said he wants to take control of the whole of the Gaza Strip but the approved plan focuses specifically on Gaza City in the territory's north, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live. Israel's move has been staunchly opposed, including from within Israel, such as by members of the country's army leadership and the families of hostages being held in Gaza.

The plan has also been heavily criticised internationally. The United Nations' human rights chief Volker Türk warned further escalation of the war would cause "more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering". Following the announcement of Israel's plan, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the country would suspend the export of arms to Israel, which could be used in Gaza, saying it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how Israel's military plan would achieve legitimate aims. However, the US has not condemned the move. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy Gaza. During a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Kent on Friday, US Vice-President JD Vance refused to disclose whether the US government knew about Israel's plans to take over Gaza City. He added that Trump would address the issue, saying their aim is to stop Hamas "attacking innocent people" and to solve humanitarian problems in Gaza.

JD Vance questions UK's Palestinian statehood plan

7 hours ago Share Save Joshua Nevett Political reporter Share Save

Watch: US has "no plans to recognise the state of Palestine", says JD Vance

US Vice-President JD Vance has raised questions about the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state, in a meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy. The UK has said it will formally recognise a Palestinian state in September if Israel does not meet certain conditions. But US President Donald Trump has not followed suit and believes that recognising Palestinian statehood would be rewarding Hamas. The difference in approach to the war in Gaza is among the issues being discussed by Vance and Lammy at the foreign secretary's official country residence, Chevening House, in Kent on Friday.

Speaking alongside Lammy, Vance said: "The United Kingdom is going to make its decision. "We have no plans to recognise a Palestinian state. "I don't know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state – given the lack of a functional government there." The vice-president said the US administration wanted to see Hamas eradicated so Israeli civilians were not attacked again, but also to solve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Vance said while the UK and US shared focus and goals, there were "disagreements" which would be discussed at Chevening. Lammy said he was concerned about Israel's intention to take over more of Gaza. The foreign secretary said: "What we all want to see is a ceasefire – what we all want to see are the hostages come out. "We are hugely concerned by the humanitarian suffering that we are seeing in Gaza particularly." Striking a warm tone, Vance spoke of his love for England and praised his "good friend" the foreign secretary. He said Britain and the US should work together to "bring greater peace" to the world as the two countries "have a lot in common". The pair are meeting for talks at the residence during Vance's family holiday to the UK. The two men went carp fishing in a pond near the 17th century house on Friday morning. Vance said he and his children caught fish but Lammy did not. "Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the foreign secretary did not," the vice-president said. The Vance family is expected to spend most of their break in the Cotswolds and are also planning to visit Scotland.

PA Vance and Lammy went fishing for carp at Chevening's lake before their meeting

Lammy and Vance have been meeting regularly on official trips since the foreign secretary started in his role last year, and they have bonded over their difficult childhoods and shared Christian faith. But Vance has been critical of the UK over free-speech issues. In a speech in February, Vance accused European governments - including the UK's - of retreating from their values, and ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech. He claimed that a "backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons" under threat, and attacked the use of laws to enforce buffer zones around abortion clinics. When asked about those criticisms, he said his concerns related more widely to "the entire collective West". Vance said: "Obviously, I've raised some criticism and concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic, but the thing that I say to the people of England, or anybody else, to David, is many of the things that I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024. "I just don't want other countries to follow us down what I think is a very dark path under the Biden administration." The other major area for discussion this weekend is Ukraine and the possibility of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict. Lammy has insisted there can't be talks unless there is a ceasefire to end Russia's war against Ukraine. What Lammy, and other European nations, fear is that Putin will seek to use Trump to force terms on Ukraine without its presence at the table, and in a way that seriously undermines Europe's security. The vice president's UK visit comes a few weeks after Trump travelled to Scotland, on a private visit to his golf courses. Trump met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as well as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, agreeing a trade deal with the bloc, and will return for a full state visit in September.

Getty Images Chevening House dates back nearly 400 years and is set in its own grounds

Israel has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, which it says is part of its strategy to end the war.

BBC Verify has been looking at what this could mean for Palestinians still living in the city, many already displaced by the fighting.

Reha Kansara has more.

Verification by Paul Brown, Joshua Cheetham and Daniele Palumbo. Produced by Mohamed Shalaby. Design by Sally Nicholls.

Nasa Apollo missions: Stories of the last Moon men

1 hour ago Share Save Ben Fell BBC News Share Save

NASA Who will be the next human to leave their footprint on the surface of the Moon?

They were the pioneers of space exploration - the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The loss of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who guided the stricken mission safely back to Earth in 1970, means there are now just five people remaining who have escaped the relative safety of Earth orbit and ventured deeper into space. Now, more than 50 years on, the race to put people back on the lunar surface is heating up once again. Nasa hopes its Artemis programme will lead to astronauts living on the Moon this decade. China is also aiming to have people on the lunar surface by 2030, having landed a probe on the far side of the Moon in June 2024. A number of private companies have tried to send scientific craft to the Moon, although the mishaps have outnumbered the successes. Nasa had intended to launch Artemis 2, its first crewed lunar expedition since Apollo 17 in 1972, last year but that date has slipped into 2026, as the space agency says it needs more time to prepare. Meanwhile, companies such as SpaceX and Boeing continue to develop their own technology, although not without their setbacks. The issues with Boeing's Starliner which left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station were embarrassing for the aerospace giant, while the "rapid unscheduled disassemblies" of SpaceX's Starship have become a customary sight to space watchers. These delays highlight the sad fact that the number of remaining Apollo astronauts is dwindling.

NASA Apollo 13 was Jim Lovell's final mission

Along with Frank Borman and Bill Anders, Jim Lovell made history when the three undertook the first lunar mission on Apollo 8, testing the Command/Service Module and its life support systems in preparation for the later Apollo 11 landing. Their craft actually made 10 orbits of the Moon before returning home. Lovell was later supposed be the fifth human to walk on the lunar surface as commander of Apollo 13 - but of course, that never happened. Instead the story of his brush with death was immortalised in the film Apollo 13, in which he was played by Tom Hanks. Following his retirement from Nasa in 1973, Lovell worked in the telecoms industry. Marilyn, his wife of more than 60 years, who became a focus for the media during the infamous incident, died in August 2023. But what of the remaining five Moon men? Who are they, and what are their stories?

Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11)

NASA Buzz Aldrin, right, along with his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, before their mission to the Moon

On 21 July 1969, former fighter pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin left his lunar landing craft and became the second person to step on the surface of the Moon. Almost 20 minutes beforehand, his commander, Neil Armstrong, had been the first. Aldrin's first words were: "Beautiful view". "Isn't that something?" asked Armstrong."Magnificent sight out here." "Magnificent desolation," replied Aldrin. The fact that he was second never sat comfortably with him. His crewmate Michael Collins said Aldrin "resented not being first on the Moon more than he appreciated being second". But Aldrin was still proud of his achievement; many years later, when confronted by a man claiming Apollo 11 was an elaborate lie, the 72-year-old Aldrin punched him on the jaw. And following Neil Armstrong's death in 2012, Aldrin said: "I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew." Despite struggles in later life, he never lost his thirst for adventure and joined expeditions to both the North and South Poles, the latter at the age of 86.

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While embracing his celebrity, he has remained an advocate for the space programme, especially the need to explore Mars. "I don't think we should just go there and come back - we did that with Apollo," he says. And his name has become known to new generations as the inspiration for Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series of films. In January 2023, at the age of 93, he married for a fourth time..

Charles Duke (Apollo 16)

There are only four people still alive who have walked on the Moon - Charlie Duke is one of them. He did it aged 36, making him the youngest person to set foot on the lunar surface. In a later BBC interview, he spoke of a "spectacular terrain". "The beauty of it… the sharp contrast between the blackness of space and the horizon of the Moon… I'll never forget it. It was so dramatic." But he had already played another significant role in Nasa's exploration of the Moon. After Apollo 11 touched down in 1969, it was Duke - in mission control as the Capsule Communicator, or Capcom - who was waiting nervously on the other end of the line when Neil Armstrong said: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

NASA Charlie Duke, along with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise in Mission Control, during the Apollo 11 mission

In his distinctive southern drawl, Duke replied: "Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground, you've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again." "I really meant it, I was holding my breath the last minute or so," he later told the BBC. In 2022, Duke told the BBC he was excited about Nasa's Artemis mission - but warned that it wouldn't be easy for the new generation of astronauts. "They've picked near the South Pole for the landing, because if there's any ice on the Moon, it would be down in that region. So that's gonna be difficult - because it's really rough down there. But we'll pull it off." Charlie Duke now lives outside San Antonio, Texas, with Dorothy, to whom he has been married for 60 years.

Fred Haise

NASA Fred Haise and his crewmates seemed surprised by their celebrity after they returned to Earth.

Fred Haise was part of the crew of Apollo 13 that narrowly avoided disaster in 1970 after an on-board explosion caused the mission to be aborted when the craft was more than 200,000 miles (321,000km) from Earth. The whole world watched nervously as Nasa attempted to return the damaged spacecraft and its crew safely. Once back, Haise and his crewmates James Lovell and Jack Swigert became celebrities, to their apparent surprise. "I feel like maybe I missed something while I was up there," he told talk show host Johnny Carson when the crew appeared on The Tonight Show. Haise never made it to the Moon. Although scheduled to be commander of Apollo 19, that mission was cancelled because of budget cuts, as were all other flights after Apollo 17. He later served as a test pilot on the prototype space shuttle, Enterprise. Like many of his fellow Apollo alumni, after leaving Nasa, Haise continued to work in the aerospace industry until his retirement.

Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17)

NASA Harrison Schmitt was the first scientist to visit the Moon

Unlike most other astronauts of the time, Schmitt had not served as a pilot in the US forces. A geologist and academic, he initially instructed Nasa astronauts on what to look for during their geological lunar field trips before becoming a scientist-astronaut himself in 1965. Schmitt was part of the last crewed mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, and along with commander Eugene Cernan, one of the last two men to set foot on the lunar surface, in December 1972. After leaving Nasa in 1975, he was elected to the US Senate from his home state of New Mexico, but only served one term. Since then he has worked as a consultant in various industries as well as continuing in academia. He is also known for speaking out against the scientific consensus on climate change.

David Scott (Apollo 15)

NASA David Scott was the seventh person to walk on the Moon

'An escape from feeling lonely': The Seoul 'convenience stores' fighting isolation

38 minutes ago Share Save Jake Kwon BBC News in Seoul Share Save

Getty Images The sign reads, 'escape room, half price' on popular pedestrian street in Seoul- the city is on a mission to stave off growing loneliness among its people

Hee-kyung giggles as she steps into Seoul's new "warm-hearted convenience store". At 29, she is perhaps not the person most would have imagined wanting to take advantage of the South Korean capital's latest efforts to combat loneliness. But Hee-Kyung visits every day to grab the free instant ramen noodles and spend hours chatting with other visitors and social workers. "I tell myself, 'another day, another escape from feeling lonely'," Hee-kyung says. A teenage runaway, she no longer talks to anyone from her family. The friends she has she met online, through the shared love of K-pop group SuperJunior, and they live far away. Currently unemployed, she has no work mates to chat to. She lives alone, and whiles away the time watching cute animal videos on her phone as she lies on the floor. "I have no other place to go if it weren't for [the store]." Hee-Kyung is one of 20,000 people to visit the four stores since they were opened in March. The city had been expecting just 5,000 in the first year. This particular location, in the city's north-eastern district of Dongdaemun, sees around 70 to 80 visitors each day. Most are in their 40s and 50s, but Hee-Kyung is far from being the only young person to access the store's services. A 2022 study revealed an estimated 130,000 young people in the city - those aged between 19 and 39 - are either socially isolated or shut in. That same study also found the share of single-person households in the capital had reached nearly 40% - that alarmed a government that has been trying to reverse plummeting birth and marriage rates.

Jake Kwon/ BBC The stores, which resemble a living room at home, offer comfort and company

The day the BBC visited, around a dozen visitors - men and women, young and old - were sitting on benches or burrowed into beanbags, watching a film together. "We have movie days to encourage low-level bonding," whispers Kim Se-heon, the manager of the city's Loneliness Countermeasure Division. The stores are designed to offer a warm, cafe-like atmosphere. In one corner, an older woman closed her eyes as she sank into the automatic massage chair that hummed. In another, there are stacks of noodles. "Ramen is a symbol of comfort and warmth in South Korea," Kim explains. While waiting for the noodles to cook, visitors are asked to fill out a brief survey on their mood and living conditions. These are just a handful of the growing number of socially isolated people that the city is trying to reach. The change South Korea has undergone is seismic: in a generation, it has gone from a war-torn agrarian society to a developed economy. A few decades ago, it was common to see large families with six to eight children, living under the same roof. But years of migration to cities have shrunk families and turned places like Seoul into sprawling metropolises. Unaffordable housing, rising costs and gruelling working hours have led more and more young people to reject marriage or parenthood, or both. On the other end is an ageing population that feels neglected by children who are racing to keep up.

Jake Kwon/ BBC Lee In-sook works as a counsellor at the convenience store

"You know the saying that the least tasty meal is the one you are having alone? I ask older people who come in if they were eating okay. They would tear up, just being asked that question," says Lee In-sook, the counsellor at the store. After a divorce and her grown-up children leaving home, she understands how it feels to be alone. The first time Hee-kyung - who is around the age of In-sook's daughter - arrived at the store, she immediately caught her eye. Like many visitors, Hee-kyung was quiet on the first day, barely speaking to others. The second time she came, she began to speak to In-sook. It was the growing number of "lonely deaths" that worried Seoul officials enough to act. Older people were dying alone at home, and their bodies were not discovered until days or weeks later. That mission soon expanded to tackling loneliness itself. But Seoul is not the first to do this. In 2018, the UK appointed a Minister for Loneliness. Japan followed the example, establishing an agency to address the problem which it said had become more pronounced in the Covid-19 pandemic. The phenomenon of withdrawing from society altogether is common enough in Japan that it has a name: hikikomori. In South Korea too, a rising number of young people have been voluntarily cutting themselves off from a highly competitive and exacting society. "Perhaps it was the pandemic that led to this," muses Lee Yu-jeong, who manages one of Seoul's anti-loneliness programmes. She points out how her children remain buried in their smartphones when their friends visit. "People today express how difficult it is to have a network of friends. Loneliness has become something that needs to be tackled as a society."

Getty Images More and more South Koreans feel socially isolated, research shows

The first step was opening a hotline for people who need someone to speak to. A nationwide survey in 2023 found that a third of Korean adults have either no one to ask for help with housework or speak to when feeling sad. Its counselors offer a 40-minute call to discuss any topic. Park Seung-ah has been making three calls a day from her cubicle. "I was surprised to see that many young people wanted these sessions. They want to share the burden on their chest but there is often a power dynamic with parents or their friends. So they come to us." The "warm-hearted convenience stores" followed swiftly, a physical location where the lonely were welcome. The Dongdaemun location was picked due to its proximity to low-income housing, where residents live in tiny, subdivided apartments alone. Sohn, 68, visits the store once a week to watch films, and to escape his cramped home. "[The stores] should have opened before I was born. It's good to spend even just two to three hours," he says. Sohn has spent more than five decades of his life caring for his mother, who suffered a brain aneurism when he was a child. As a result, he never married or had children. The cost of the dedication became clear when she died. Penniless and walking with a cane since suffering a brain haemorrhage himself several years ago, he says there aren't many places for him. "Places cost money, going to the cinema costs money," he says.

Getty Images South Korea's population also reports feeling isolated and lonely

Snapchat row and a hidden knife: The final hours before Harvey Willgoose's murder

10 hours ago Share Save Chloe Aslett BBC News, Yorkshire Share Save

Family handout Harvey Willgoose "loved his friends like he loved his family", his mum said

When Harvey Willgoose left for school on 3 February, neither he, nor those who knew and loved him, had any idea he would not return home again. This is the story of Harvey's final hours, as told to the BBC and the jury, who have convicted his 15-year-old schoolmate of murder. "I followed him to the door, and he said, 'shut the door behind me - I love you'," Caroline Willgoose recalls. Those eight words were the final ones Harvey would speak to his mum. Earlier in the morning, as he got ready to go to All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield, he had asked his mum if she was proud of him. "I am, love," came the reply. For about a year, Harvey had regularly missed school. There were a number of reasons, including anxiety, but more recently a concern about weapons at the site. The week before his murder, there had been a lockdown at the 1,400-pupil school following a fight between a friend of Harvey's and a friend of his soon-to-be killer. The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had insisted Harvey's friend had a knife on him, but police never found one. Harvey had not been in school that day. Two days later, on the Friday before he was killed, Harvey had messaged his dad: "Am not going in that school while people have knives." The following week, he summoned the courage to return - and was fatally stabbed in the chest by another pupil. During a month-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court, his killer admitted manslaughter, but denied murder, arguing he had suffered a "loss of control" - saying his memory of what happened stopped "just before I stabbed him". However, the jury subsequently found him guilty of murder.

Mark and Caroline Willgoose, Harvey's parents, attended court throughout the trial

On Monday 3 February, as pupils across Sheffield prepared for a normal school day, Harvey's killer searched online for a prayer to keep him safe and tucked a hunting knife into his coat pocket. He described it as a "scary knife" which he only kept for protection: "If someone tried to attack me and I pulled it out, they're not going to want to fight me," he later told the jury. Harvey and the defendant were in separate social groups at school, but were generally on good terms - at least until a "non-stop" argument had erupted on Snapchat the weekend after the fight between their friends. In the early hours of Saturday morning, Harvey - whose mum said "loved his friends like he loved his family" - posted his address on the chat. He tagged the defendant's friend, and said: "If you've got a problem with [my friends] - any of them - you've got my addy [address], I'll deal with it, simple."

Handout Harvey had expressed concern about knives at school before his death

Before school on Monday, Harvey opened Snapchat again to try and clear the air. This time, he messaged the defendant directly, asking if there was "beef" - or tension - between them. The defendant responded, "nah but if u wan beef we can hav it". Then, in an otherwise typical teenage, slang-filled, message, his tone changed, telling Harvey he had been his first friend at the school. At about 09:15 that morning, Harvey passed the teenager, who was sitting at a desk in an empty school corridor. Harvey pointed at him and called him a name in fun, the defendant said. Harvey then had asked what had happened to his injured hand, and joked about his poor boxing skills. The teenager pushed Harvey a few times, and they appeared to be sparring. It was light-hearted, he said, and they parted with a handshake. He told the jury: "I was thinking it was all right between me and him." Then, in a foreshadowing of the police statement he would make the following day, the boy went back to the account he had been asked to write about the previous week's fight. He had been physically restrained from getting involved in the altercation, but, unlike the other boys involved, he had not been suspended.

PA Media Flowers were laid outside All Saints Catholic High School after Harvey was killed

Soon after, Harvey ran into teacher Claire Staniforth, who was head of Year 10 at the time. He asked if she was pleased to see him, and she said yes. "He said he hadn't been planning to [attend], because he heard there had been a knife. I said I wouldn't have been in work if someone had a knife," Ms Staniforth told the jury. Harvey, in a mock show of toughness held his hands up and added: "As if anyone's going to stab me." At about 10:55, in morning break, he and the defendant met in the same corridor as before. Now much busier, they pushed into each other again, but the boy later claimed to the court Harvey had threatened to "juck" - or stab - him. The defendant did not mention this skirmish to Ms Staniforth when, 15 minutes later, he went to her office to ask to be excused from his science lesson in order to avoid two other students. He had already been allowed to miss PE earlier - to avoid the boy he claimed had brought the knife the week before - so was told to attend science as normal.

'Squared up'

Harvey arrived to the lesson late, but in a "good mood", said teacher Sophie Heath-Whyte. "We had a bit of a joke," she told the jury. "My arm was in a sling at the time [and] he was joking, saying I had been in a fight." But when the defendant walked in, Harvey asked for a time-out. As the boys crossed paths in the narrow gap between desks, they "squared up". The teacher said they were baiting each other, with the defendant admitting he taunted Harvey in an effort to get him to lose his cool. "If he hits me first, I've got a reason to hit him back," he said in court. He would later insist he had not wanted to hit Harvey, and had "worded it out wrong". The jury heard the defendant had been physically and emotionally abused at home, and had a long history of being bullied. There were reports of him being malnourished. "I remember feeling sorry for him," said Ms Heath-Whyte said, recalling he had seemed quiet and sad after the tussle with Harvey. He stayed in the lesson, keeping his coat on despite being asked to remove it – the knife still in his pocket. Harvey visited Ms Staniforth briefly, complaining that the boy had pushed him, then went to the isolation room for some quiet time.

PA Media Floral tributes to football fan Harvey were laid at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane stadium

At 12:05, five minutes before lunch, Harvey spoke to Ms Staniforth again via the phone in the isolation room. "Hi bestie," he said. The teacher asked if he was getting any food, and said he could spend his lunch break in her office. However, "he never arrived". The teacher told the court that she and Harvey would make each other laugh. He was a boy who could sometimes be cheeky but "would never overstep boundaries". At the start of the lunch break, Harvey told one pupil the defendant had motioned taking something from his pocket in science class. Harvey had thought he was bluffing. Meanwhile, the defendant was speaking to one of his friends about Harvey. "He suddenly just talked about a knife," the friend told police. "I told him, 'give it to me before you do something stupid', but he didn't listen."

Emergency services were called to the school just after 12:15 GMT on 3 February

At 12:15, in the school courtyard, Harvey was said to have met the defendant for the final time. The defendant claimed Harvey had threatened him before placing his hand on his arm. The jury was told that, thinking he was about to be stabbed, the boy pulled the 13cm-long black blade from his pocket. At that point, he claimed, his memory failed. CCTV footage played in court showed him pass the knife to his right hand and stab Harvey in the heart with such force he severed one of his ribs. For 49 seconds, Harvey stayed on his feet. Fatally injured, he then backed away across the courtyard, in shock, before moving back towards his attacker. The knife-wielding teen advanced, shouting "come on! What now?" according to witnesses, and Harvey moved away. One girl, standing just feet away, told the jury she grabbed a younger girl and ran, saying, "he's got a knife, he's just stabbed somebody!". Harvey leant into the nearby cafeteria, looked at his attacker for a final time, then stepped back into the courtyard, looked down at his chest and collapsed to the floor. For a moment, he lay alone. Ms Staniforth heard shouting and ran towards the courtyard: "I told him I was there," she told the jury, through tears. Morgan Davis, assistant head, told the court he saw people huddled around Harvey as he headed towards the cafeteria - and the culprit. "I said, 'just give me the knife'." Mr Davis told the court the defendant looked scared and in shock: "He just kept repeating, 'you know I can't control it'." He did not resist the teacher as he took the knife from him, the court heard.

BBC/Oli Constable Harvey's funeral took place at Sheffield Cathedral on 21 February

The ambulance was called at 12:17 GMT. For seven long minutes, a teacher tried to help Harvey before paramedics arrived. Meanwhile, head teacher Sean Pender escorted the defendant to his office. Mr Pender testified that the attacker said he had stabbed Harvey "once or twice", and added: "I'm not right in the head. My mum doesn't look after me right. I've stabbed him." At trial, the boy claimed he did not remember the stabbing, describing himself as lost "in the moment". He was arrested in the head teacher's office. Meanwhile, police arrived at Harvey's home and took his mum to Sheffield Children's Hospital. Mrs Willgoose told the BBC how on the way there, a voice on the officer's walkie talkie said: "Turn the blue lights off, go at normal speed." "We got there, and someone had put 'RIP Harvey' [online]," she said. "We were told he had passed away. I just started screaming." Harvey was pronounced dead at 13:24. Mrs Willgoose and some of Harvey's pals told the BBC how friends and family were key to him. One teenager, who had known Harvey since they were six, said he thought about him on a daily basis: "Every time I needed somewhere to go or someone to see, even at half three in morning, he would always be there no matter what." "He weren't a friend, he was more family," he added. Harvey's mum spoke about how her son brought life to their home: "The house was always really busy, his friends were always there. "He liked to be at home so our house was always full of kids. Now it's quiet..." She said her son's killer had "ruined his life, and Harvey hasn't got a life anymore," adding there were now two families "with an empty bedroom". "There are no winners here."

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North

River Island allowed to shut shops to stave off collapse

8 hours ago Share Save Rachel Clun Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

Getty Images

River Island has been given the green light to close 33 stores across the UK after the High Court approved the fashion retailer's restructuring plans. The High Street brand said a customer shift towards online shopping and higher operating costs had contributed to multi-million pound losses. It had warned its creditors that it could run short of cash by the end of August if its turnaround proposal was not approved. As well as closing shops, rents will be reduced at a further 71 branches as part of the plan which, River Island's chief executive Ben Lewis, said "will enable us to align our store estate to our customers' needs".

Negotiations are due to begin with those landlords shortly. As well as the store closures and rent reductions, about 110 of roughly 950 roles at River Island's head office will be made redundant, saving an estimated £8.1m. River Island has 223 stores across the UK and Ireland. None of the Irish shops face closure. The retailer has already closed seven loss-making shops this year, River Island's barrister Matthew Weaver KC told the High Court. He said that unless the restructure was approved, the alternative was insolvency. Mr Lewis said the company has a "clear transformation strategy" to ensure the business has a future, "and this decision gives us a strong platform to deliver this". Charles Allen, an intelligence analyst at Bloomberg, said River Island had failed to keep up with customer tastes which, he said "can be a bit fickle" but the retailer had found itself without "anything striking". River Island had also been suffering from issues felt by many UK retailers, such as the shift to online shopping. "There's just less business going in shops," Mr Allen told BBC's Today programme. He added that rising costs have also been exacerbated by the increase in employer National Insurance Contributions.

'Shrinking into greatness'

The company employs around 5,500 people and was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand. It was rebranded in 1988 as River Island and grew steadily, but in recent years has experienced declining sales, Mr Weaver said. The company's most recent accounts revealed a £33.2m full-year loss after sales fell 19%. Mr Weaver also said that River Island was forecast to be unable to pay its debts from late August or early September, with a projected shortfall of more than £43m. The company is seeking £54m in funding. Mr Weaver told Friday's hearing that the company "simply has not been able to reverse" a trend of financial difficulty. Nick Sherrard, managing director at consultancy Label Sessions, said that while the company has been saved from collapse for now, marketing and creative teams need to get to work to get consumers to care about its products. "People keep repeating the line that River Island is a much-loved brand. It really isn't anymore. "River Island is a much-recognised brand and, while that's important, it's not the same thing at all," he said. "Does someone have a vision for what to do after the cost cutting? "There are very few examples of companies shrinking into greatness." The restructuring will involve closing 33 stores from January 2026, and negotiating with the landlords of a further 71 stores to reduce rents in some cases to zero. Mr Weaver acknowledged that in some cases, landlords may prefer to regain shop space before the end of leases. With the restructure, the company is forecasting 1% annual growth for the next five years.

River Island store closures

One dead as wildfires rage in southern Greece

Watch: Firefighters battle to contain Greek wildfires

Across Greece, more than 50 agricultural and forest fires have broken out in the past 24 hours - one of the worst days for wildfires this summer.

The blaze broke out shortly after 14:00 local time (11:00 BST) on Friday in the Manoutso area, initially burning through dry grass and plots of land.

The fire service says the body of an elderly man was found inside his home in the Togani area, close to where the fire started.

One person has been killed after a large wildfire in Keratea, south-east of Athens, spread rapidly, destroying homes and prompting evacuation alerts.

Local residents in Keratea have also joined the huge firefighting operation

Fanned by winds of up to 80km/h (49mph), the fire near Keratea grew quickly in size and intensity. Thick smoke and strong gusts are hampering firefighting efforts.

Emergency messages from the 112 civil protection service have been sent in quick succession, urging thousands of residents to leave affected areas.

Police are in place to help with evacuations and have already removed at least 10 people who had refused to leave their homes.

Authorities say seven areas have so far been evacuated: Synterina, Dimolaki, Maliasteka, Agiasma, Charvalo, Drosia and the settlement of Ari, which has been severely affected, with the fire sweeping through from end to end. Roads have been cut off as flames have crossed fields and reached residential areas.

Lavreotiki mayor Dimitris Loukas told public broadcaster ERT that the blaze is "extremely difficult" to contain and now stretches more than seven kilometres.

He said evacuations are under way for all residents in the affected settlements. The fire has moved south from Manoutso towards Drosia, entering a pine forest, with winds now pushing it towards the Anavyssos area.

Authorities warn that if it is not contained soon, it could grow even larger.

A force of 190 firefighters, seven ground teams, 44 vehicles and the mobile operations centre "Olympus" - is battling the flames, supported by 11 aircraft and seven helicopters. Tankers and heavy machinery from the Attica region are also deployed.

Fire crews from the Czech Republic and Romania have joined the effort, while army engineering units are providing heavy machinery to assist in containment.

Later on Friday, another large wildfire broke out in Helidoni, in the municipality of Ancient Olympia, western Greece.

Regional authorities have deployed 105 firefighters, four ground teams and 34 vehicles to tackle the blaze there. They are supported from the air by nine aircraft and four helicopters.

Volunteers have also assisted, using water tankers and other machinery.

Fire officials say the greatest danger comes from embers carried by the wind, which are igniting multiple spot fires. High-voltage power lines run through the area, and crews are working urgently to stop the flames from reaching them.

Evacuation messages were sent via the 112 civil protection service to residents of Grammatikos, Lantzoi, Agios Georgios Lantzoïou, Pournari and Irakleia in the regional unit of Ilia, advising them to move towards the town of Pyrgos.

Fire crews are battling the flames in Grammatikos, Lantzoi, Helidoni and Irakleia, with strong winds driving the fire dangerously close to Pelopio and the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia.

One person who had been trapped at the Helidoni football ground has been taken to hospital by ambulance with severe burns to their arms.

Around 80 firefighters, three ground teams, 25 vehicles and local authority resources are on scene. Six aircraft and three helicopters are assisting from the air.

Authorities have warned that the risk of further outbreaks remains severe, particularly in Attica, the Peloponnese and western Greece.

Woman dies after lifeboat rescues her from sea

A woman in her 60s has died after getting into difficulty in the sea off Skegness beach.

The RNLI said a lifeboat was scrambled as part of a major search. A coastguard helicopter and an air ambulance were also deployed.

The woman was rescued from the water at about 17:30 BST.

Lincolnshire Police said she was brought back to shore "but sadly died".