3 d. ago NHS bosses face 'difficult choices' as budget crisis deepens in Ayrshire & Arran

Bosses today confessed that hard choices will need to be made.

Economics

3 d. ago ‘Give us the flour – or we will kill you’: Gaza’s starving face impossible choices

As Palestinians in the north of the enclave face forced evacuation under the military escalation planned by Benjamin Netanyahu, locals tell Nedal Hamdouna in Gaza and Bel Trew of the brutal reality

Events

3 d. ago Mourners gather amid outrage over Israeli troops’ killing of journalists in Gaza – live updates

UN condemns killing of Anas al-Sharif and colleagues, calling it a ‘grave breach of international humanitarian law’Anas al-Sharif among five journalists killed in Israeli airstrikeReporters Without Borders has condemned the “acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif in Gaza, who the armed forces admitted they had targeted, along with several of his colleagues.The press freedom campaign group told news agency AFP it “strongly and angrily condemns the acknowledged murder by the Israeli army” of al-Sharif and other journalists. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Gaza latest: Netanyahu defends plan to occupy Gaza City as UN warns of ‘calamity’

Anger grows in Israel and outside over Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial plan to take over Gaza

Events

3 d. ago Netanyahu defends Gaza City plan as UN warns of ‘calamity’ and starvation

Israeli PM says taking over city is ‘best way’ to end war, despite condemnation from within Israel and around worldMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu has defended his plan to take control of Gaza City in the face of widespread international outrage, even as senior UN officials warned that the move risked unleashing “another calamity” on a territory already experiencing “starvation, pure and simple”.In a rare press conference with foreign journalists in Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister said the plan, signed off last week by the security cabinet to criticism both at home and abroad, was “the best way to end the war and the best way to end it speedily.” Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Israel’s Gaza City plan sparks global condemnation with warnings of more destruction and suffering – latest updates

Widespread calls for takeover plan to be stopped with UK’s Starmer saying escalation will ‘only bring more bloodshed’ and Germany halting arms exportsNetanyahu announces plan to take over Gaza CityThe UK’s ambassador to Israel has said extending the war in Gaza would only lead to more deaths and that occupying Gaza would be a “huge mistake”.Simon Walters was quoted by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper as saying on Thursday:The IDF has achieved all that it can achieve in Gaza, and extending the war any further will simply lead to more deaths. Deaths of soldiers, deaths of Palestinians, deaths of hostages.If you want to defeat Hamas, you cannot achieve that through military force. You need to use politics and diplomacy and you need to give the people of Gaza an alternative to Hamas.We are working with friends, allies in Europe and in the Middle East to generate a real plan for what happens after the fighting stops, after the war.It needs to be a description of what the governments will be fo...

Events

6 d. ago Gaza latest: Netanyahu’s plan for Gaza City takeover denounced as ‘exactly what Hamas want’ after cabinet approval

Israeli leader suggests he may pass responsibility for governing Palestinian territory to Arab forces

Politics

6 d. ago Gaza latest: Israeli security cabinet approves Netanyahu’s plan to occupy Gaza City

Israeli leader suggests he would pass responsibility for governing the strip to Arab forces

Events

6 d. ago Middle East crisis live: Israel security cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City amid reports of disagreements with military

The announcement comes after Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intended to take full control of Gaza and hand over the territory’s governance to friendly Arab forcesThe Axios reporter Barak Ravid has cited an Israeli official as saying Israel’s occupation of Gaza City is to involve besieging Hamas fighters there while carrying out a ground offensive.Ravid’s post on X says:Senior Israeli official tells me: The operation that the IDF is currently preparing for is only in Gaza City. The goal is to evacuate all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by October 7. A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City. The Prime Minister and the Defense Minister have been authorized to approve the IDF’s final operational plan1. Disarming Hamas of its weapons.2. Return of all hostages – both the living and the deceased. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Netanyahu plans to fully occupy Gaza before handing governance to friendly Arab nations

Israeli PM needs security cabinet to approve plan amid opposition from aid agencies and families of hostagesMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Netanyahu aims to fully control Gaza despite warnings of mass death

Israeli PM needs security cabinet to approve plan amid opposition from aid agencies and families of hostagesMiddle East crisis – live updatesBenjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory.Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Fears for Palestinians and hostages as Netanyahu plans full Gaza occupation

Israeli prime minister to hold cabinet talks on occupation despite pleas from aid agencies and by families of hostagesMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has convened a security cabinet expected to be held on Thursday evening to discuss the full occupation of the Gaza Strip, which aid agencies have warned would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths and further mass displacement.The families of the roughly 20 remaining living hostages have called for Israelis to protest against the government and a decision they fear would endanger the lives of their loved ones. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Médecins Sans Frontières calls for immediate closure of US and Israelibacked aid group in Gaza – Middle East crisis live

MSF says it has rarely ‘seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians’ as it has at GHF aid sitesThe medical NGO Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has called for the immediate closure of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the US- and Israeli-backed aid organisation operating in Gaza, describing GHF-run food distribution sites in Gaza as having become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”.In a social media post on Thursday, MSF wrote:“In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.”The GHF-run food distributions in Gaza, Palestine, have become sites of “orchestrated killing and dehumanisation”, not humanitarian aid.During those seven weeks, our teams treated 71 children for gunshot wounds, 25 of whom were under the age of 15. Faced with no alternatives to find food, starved families frequently send teenage boys into this lethal environment, as they are often the only males in the ...

Politics

8 d. ago Budget 2025: possible Autumn Budget UK tax rises explained, what they might mean for you

With a big funding gap to fix, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces tough choices 💷

Economics

9 d. ago Gaza latest: UK to evacuate 100 children for urgent medical care as Netanyahu pushes for ‘full occupation’

Israeli prime minister signals plan to expand military offensive in Gaza

Events

9 d. ago Gaza latest: Netanyahu to push for ‘full occupation’ as 600 Israeli ex

Nearly 600 retired Israeli security officials urge Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end war

Politics

9 d. ago Gaza latest: Netanyahu to push for ‘full conquest’ as 600 Israeli ex

Nearly 600 retired Israeli security officials urge Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end war

Politics

3 w. ago Faced with a choice between saving his own skin and the lives of others, Netanyahu always chooses himself | Jonathan Freedland

If Israel’s prime minister accepts a ceasefire deal soon, it will only be because the timing suits him. He, like his country, will face a reckoningWill the war in Gaza last for ever? It’s not a wholly rhetorical question. There are days when I fear that the death and devastation that has gone on for 650 days will never stop, that it will eventually settle into a constant, low-level attritional war inside the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a war within a war – that becomes a background hum to world affairs, the way the Troubles in Northern Ireland endured for 30 years. In this same nightmare, incidentally, I see Benjamin Netanyahu, who has already sat in Israel’s prime ministerial chair for nearly 18 years, on and off, staying put for another 18 years or more, ruling the country until he is 100.Israelis don’t want either of those things to happen. Polls show that only a minority trust Netanyahu, while an overwhelming majority – about 74% – want this terrible war to end. As the ...

Politics