Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was appalled by the killing of seven aid workers, including three British citizens, in an Israeli air strike in Gaza and demanded "a thorough and transparent independent investigation" into the incident.
Mr Sunak made the comments during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, adding that "far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable".
King Charles III has asked for specific updates about the strike, which killed seven members of a team from World Central Kitchen, a source told The National on Tuesday.
The workers were killed on Monday evening as they travelled in a convoy through a non-combat zone in Gaza. They were travelling in armoured vehicles branded with the logo of the aid organisation.
The group was hit while leaving a warehouse in Deir Al Balah, despite co-ordinating their movements with the Israeli military, the organisation said.
The convoy was struck by three missiles fired one after the other, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported.
Footage showed the bodies, several wearing protective gear bearing the charity’s logo, at a hospital in Deir Al Balah. The BBC named the British victims as James Kirby, John Chapman and former Royal Marine James Henderson.
"Everybody is gutted, he was a lovely lad," a close friend of Mr Henderson told The Daily Mail. "He hadn't been out there long, only a couple of weeks. The group he was working for broke the news to the family this morning."
Others killed in the strike include Australian national Lalzawmi Frankcom, Polish national Damian Sobol and Palestinian Saif Issam Abu Taha. The US-Canadian dual national has not been named.
Seven aid workers killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza - video
Mr Netanyahu responded to the strike in a video, saying: "Unfortunately in the past day there was a tragic event in which our forces unintentionally harmed non-combatants in the Gaza Strip."
He said "this happens in war" and that Israel was conducting an investigation. "We will do everything to prevent a recurrence," he said.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said officials reviewed the incident "at the highest levels” and said he had spoken to WCK founder, celebrity chef Jose Andres, to express his condolences.
“We will be opening a probe to examine this serious incident further,” Admiral Hagari said. “This will help us reduce the risk of such an event occurring again.”
Britain summoned the Israeli ambassador over the incident, the Foreign Ministry said.
"I set out the government's unequivocal condemnation of the appalling killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals," said Andrew Mitchell, the UK's Minister of State for Development and Africa.
"I requested a quick and transparent investigation, shared with the international community, and full accountability."
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said in a post on X that he had spoken with Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz to emphasise the aid worker deaths were "completely unacceptable".
"Israel must urgently explain how this happened and make major changes to ensure safety of aid workers on the ground," Lord Cameron said.
The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, described the Israeli strike as “outrageous and unacceptable”.
“Our thoughts are with the families of all of those killed. We condemn this strike," he added. "There must be a full investigation and those responsible must be held to account.
“This war must stop now. Far too many innocent people have died in this conflict and more than a million are facing starvation. Labour repeats our call for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages and full humanitarian access into Gaza.”
World Central Kitchen has played a key role in getting food into Gaza to help tackle the growing humanitarian disaster in the enclave.
Mr Andres said he was heartbroken by the deaths. “The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing,” he said. “It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon."
WCK staff, along with thousands of volunteers and contractors, responded to disasters in nearly 20 countries last year.
The organisation has fed war victims in Ukraine, delivered meal kits to earthquake survivors in Syria and Turkey, and worked with aid groups in Gaza, Israel and nearby countries to feed victims of the war and the families of hostages.
WCK said on its website that its teams had set up a field kitchen in Rafah and created a network of community kitchens across Gaza. It has suspended its operations after the Israeli strike.
Farasan Boat: 128km Away from Anchorage
Director: Mowaffaq Alobaid
Stars: Abdulaziz Almadhi, Mohammed Al Akkasi, Ali Al Suhaibani
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
if you go
The flights
The closest international airport to the TMB trail is Geneva (just over an hour’s drive from the French ski town of Chamonix where most people start and end the walk). Direct flights from the UAE to Geneva are available with Etihad and Emirates from about Dh2,790 including taxes.
The trek
The Tour du Mont Blanc takes about 10 to 14 days to complete if walked in its entirety, but by using the services of a tour operator such as Raw Travel, a shorter “highlights” version allows you to complete the best of the route in a week, from Dh6,750 per person. The trails are blocked by snow from about late October to early May. Most people walk in July and August, but be warned that trails are often uncomfortably busy at this time and it can be very hot. The prime months are June and September.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
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Brief scores
Barcelona 2
Pique 36', Alena 87'
Villarreal 0
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THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
F1 The Movie
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Rating: 4/5
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Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
