Israeli strike kills 10 children queuing at Gaza medical clinic, say officials

At least 10 children were among the 16 Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike when they were waiting for care outside a medical clinic in Gaza, according to local authorities.

The strike in Deir al-Balah on Thursday – which aid groups have called a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law” – comes as ceasefire talks continue to drag on with no immediate deal expected.

Bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming are seen in video footage verified by Reuters, with one clip showing several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.

A distraught mother was pictured sitting by the body of her daughter, who was killed in the blast, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.

The mother, Samah al-Nouri, said: “She didn’t do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school. She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?”

Israel’s military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led 7 October attack. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.

The fighting in Gaza has shown no sign of slowing as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with president Donald Trump in Washington this week to work on a US-led ceasefire plan. Hopes for an agreement in the near term appeared to be fading as Mr Netanyahu prepared to return to Israel.

Mr Netanyahu is holding firm to the idea that Hamas must be destroyed, while Hamas wants a complete end to the war following the proposed 60-day truce.

US-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic. “Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore,” the aid group said in a statement.

The aid group’s president and CEO, Rabih Torbay, said: “Project HOPE’s health clinics are a place of refuge in Gaza where people bring their small children, women access pregnancy and postpartum care, people receive treatment for malnutrition, and more. Yet, this morning, innocent families were mercilessly attacked as they stood in line waiting for the doors to open.

“Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore. This is a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza, even as ceasefire talks continue. This cannot continue. Project HOPE urgently calls for an immediate ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and a dramatic scale-up of aid to meet the urgent needs of Gaza’s civilian population.”

Gaza’s Nasser Hospital reported a total of 21 deaths in airstrikes in the southern town of Khan Younis and the nearby coastal area of Muwasi. It said three children and their mother, as well as two additional women, were among the dead.

The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators held talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.

A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another week or two, however, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.

“I think we’re closer, and I think perhaps we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while,” Mr Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.

Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.

Over the past 24 hours, massive explosions in Gaza sent plumes of smoke up the sky and were visible from the border with Israel.

On Thursday, the Israeli military announced that a soldier was killed in Khan Younis a day earlier after militants burst out of an underground tunnel and tried to abduct him. The soldier was shot and killed, while troops in the area shot the militants, hitting several of them, the military said.

Eighteen soldiers have been killed in the past three weeks, one of the deadliest periods for the Israeli army in months, putting additional public pressure on Mr Netanyahu to end the war.

The war began after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Most have been released in earlier ceasefires. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave’s few remaining hospitals.

Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including incubators at the neonatal unit of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.

“We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies are now in a critical condition.

An Israeli military official said that fuel destined for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities was let into the enclave on Wednesday and on Thursday.

However, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that far more fuel was needed to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining services operating.

Meanwhile, Israel began demolitions on Thursday of more than a dozen buildings in the central city of Bat Yam, which saw the deadliest Iranian missile strike during the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Nine people were killed, including five members of the same family, in Bat Yam. The family were Ukrainian refugees who fled the war and came to Israel for medical treatment, according to Israeli media.

Bat Yam mayor Tzvika Brot said the strike left 2,000 people – more than 1 per cent of the city’s population – homeless. Many are now living at hotels.

“We’re going to demolish 20 buildings, but we’re going to build them better, stronger, and there will be much more Israeli families running around here. That will be the best answer to our enemies,” he added.

A 55-year-old Palestinian man was killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday. The Israeli military said the man was shot after stabbing a soldier in the village of Rumana. The soldier suffered moderate wounds.

(Additional reporting from agencies)

Trump plans major statement on Russia after growing frustration with Putin

Donald Trump has announced that the United States will supply weapons to Ukraine via Nato, with the alliance covering the full cost.

“We’re sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent,” Mr Trump told NBC News. He also said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday.

While he declined to elaborate it, Mr Trump has expressed his frustration with Russian president Vladimir Putin over the lack of progress towards ending the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Mr Trump is expected to authorise the use of the Presidential Drawdown Authority to send arms worth around $300m from US stockpiles to Ukraine for the first time since returning to office.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Asean summit in Malaysia. Mr Rubio conveyed Mr Trump’s frustration with Moscow’s lack of flexibility in ending the war. “There’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict,” he told Mr Lavrov.

Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer was shot dead in broad daylight in a Kyiv car park.

TV doctor Robert Winston quits BMA over ‘damaging’ strikes

A TV doctor and IVF pioneer has resigned from the British Medical Association (BMA) over planned strike action by resident doctors.

Professor Robert Winston, a Labour peer who became a household name through his documentaries on child development, told The Times the “highly dangerous” walkout could harm people’s trust in the profession.

Prof Winston, 84, who The Times reported has been a member of the union since he qualified as a doctor more than 60 years ago, said he resigned from the BMA on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the BMA announced that resident doctors, formerly junior doctors, in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25, in a dispute over pay.

Prof Winston, who fronted the BBC documentary Child Of Our Time, told the Times: “I’ve paid my membership for a long time. I feel very strongly that this isn’t the time to be striking. I think that the country is really struggling in all sorts of ways, people are struggling in all sorts of ways.

“Strike action completely ignores the vulnerability of people in front of you.”

He urged the union to reconsider, saying it is “important that doctors consider their own responsibility much more seriously”, and stressed that the walkout could cause “long-term damage” to people’s faith in doctors.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting called for resident doctors to “abandon their unreasonable rush to strike” and said that NHS recovery is “fragile”.

Mr Streeting told the Commons on Thursday: “We have put the NHS on the road to recovery, but we all know that the NHS is still hanging by a thread, and that the BMA is threatening to pull it.”

The BMA has been contacted for comment.

Hero officers who confronted Southport killer honoured for bravery

Three police officers who confronted Southport knife attacker Axel Rudakubana during his killing spree have been honoured for their bravery.

Sergeant Gregory Gillespie, Constable Luke Holden and police community support officer (PCSO) Timothy Parry were the first officers to arrive on the scene at the Taylor Swift-themed workshop on July 29 last year.

Rudakubana, 18, who murdered Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; Bebe King, six; and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and injured 10 others, including eight children, was confronted by the officers as he stood at the top of a flight of stairs holding a large knife.

The Merseyside Police officers were the “overall winners” of the Police Federation of England and Wales’ (PFEW) 2025 bravery awards held on Thursday.

The PFEW said Sgt Gillespie was the first to arrive at Hart Street in Southport and described seeing “chaos”, with “extremely panicked” people in the street.

He directed paramedics to a seriously injured child before being joined by Pc Holden and PCSO Parry.

They witnessed members of the public running away from the dance studio carrying young children.

Armed with a baton and a Taser, Sgt Gillespie and Pc Holden entered the building while PCSO Parry covered the exit.

They found Rudakubana, then aged 17, holding a large knife at the top of the stairs and approached while shouting at him to drop the knife. PCSO Parry also ran in to assist.

Rudakubana, who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January, dropped the weapon and was handcuffed and arrested after the trio struck with a baton and kicked the teenager to get him under control.

PFEW national chairwoman Tiff Lynch said of all the winners: “Whether confronting violent attackers, rescuing individuals from life-threatening situations, or making split-second decisions under immense pressure, these officers have shown exceptional courage and selflessness”.

A public inquiry into the attack began on Tuesday to identify changes that urgently need to be made to protect the most vulnerable from other “horrors”, the chairman said.

Chairman Sir Adrian Fulford opened the inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall into what he described as “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”.

In his opening statement, Sir Adrian said: “As a society we are not helpless when confronted with individuals who are known to be contemplating acts of such depravity and although no solution will be foolproof, we can identify all of the robust steps which should be taken to protect ourselves, and particularly the most vulnerable, from horrors of this kind.

“And this must be undertaken at speed, to provide answers for the victims and their families and to identify all of the changes that urgently need to be made.”

Gregg Wallace ‘banned from working at the BBC’

Gregg Wallace has reportedly been banned from working at the BBC, as executives lack “confidence” that he would be able to change “what seems to be learned behaviour”.

The corporation is said to have ruled that the television presenter is not safe to have in the workplace, following an investigation into his behaviour on the cooking competition show MasterChef.

In the letter of dismissal, sent by head of compliance for BBC Television Claire Powell, the 60-year-old was warned he will not get a job as a BBC presenter again, The Telegraph reported.

Highlighting that Wallace was a presenter on “a flagship BBC show”, the letter reportedly also addressed the impact his alleged remarks had on the broadcaster’s reputation.

The Telegraph reported that the investigation is set to clear Wallace of the most severe accusations of groping, but find him guilty of making inappropriate comments in the workplace.

The Independent has contacted Wallace’s representatives for comment.

Wallace is facing multiple accusations, including claims that he made inappropriate sexual jokes, asked for the phone numbers of female production staff, and behaved unprofessionally around female colleagues on set. He has denied these allegations.

Earlier this week, Wallace said he had been sacked as Masterchef presenter as BBC News said that it had been approached by more than 50 people with new claims about the presenter.

The claims, which Wallace denies, included allegations that he groped a MasterChef colleague.

The fresh allegations come just days before the publication of a report by Masterchef production company Banijay, overseen by the law firm Lewis Silkin, into some of the separate claims made last year.

Wallace is now also facing criticism from disability for appearing to link his alleged behaviour with a recent autism diagnosis.

In a lengthy statement to Instagram on Tuesday (8 July), the former MasterChef host said that he had been formally diagnosed with autism, and suggested that his neurodiversity was “suspected and discussed by colleagues across countless seasons” of the show.

He went on to add that TV bosses had failed to “investigate my disability” or “protect me from what I now realise was a dangerous environment”.

Meanwhile, a friend of the presenter told The Times that Wallace could not wear underwear “because of his autistic hypersensitivity to labels and tight clothing”.

Seema Flower, founder of disabilities consultancy BlindAmbition, told BBC News that there was “no excuse” for inappropriate behaviour and asked: “Where does it leave us if we use autism as an excuse to behave in whatever way we like?”

Emily Banks, founder of neurodiversity training body Enna, told the broadcaster that autism “doesn’t absolve anyone of responsibility, and it certainly doesn’t mean you can’t tell the difference between right and wrong”, while Dan Harris from the charity Neurodiversity in Business said that autism “is not a free pass for bad behaviour”.

A National Autistic Society spokesperson said: “Every autistic person is different, just like every non-autistic person is different, so it is important not to generalise or make judgements based on the actions, words or behaviour of any one individual.”

Wallace first stepped away from his role on MasterChef nine months ago, after the BBC received a number of complaints about his conduct. He was replaced by Grace Dent on the celebrity edition of the show, and also dropped as an ambassador for the charity Ambitious about Autism.

His lawyers have said that “it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature”.

In the same Instagram post, Wallace launched a lengthy tirade against the BBC, claiming that he had decided to “speak out” and share the findings of the months-long investigation into his on-set behaviour, which he described as “full and forensic”.

He said that he “cannot sit in silence while my reputation is further damaged to protect others”, and stated that the then-unpublished investigation “exonerates me of all the serious allegations which made headlines last year”.

The former greengrocer said that the report found him “guilty of inappropriate language between 2005 and 2018”. He apologised “without reservation”, adding: “I recognise that some of my humour and language, at times, was inappropriate.”

However, he maintained that the report showed the “most damaging claims” against him, “including allegations from public figures which have not been upheld”, to be “baseless”.

“I was hired by the BBC and MasterChef as the cheeky greengrocer,” he continued. “A real person with warmth, character, rough edges and all. For over two decades, that authenticity was part of the brand.

“Now, in a sanitised world, that same personality is seen as a problem.”

The former Inside the Factory host added that he “will not go quietly” and “will not be cancelled for convenience”.

In response to Wallace’s statement, the BBC told The Independent: “Banijay UK instructed the law firm Lewis Silkin to run an investigation into allegations against Gregg Wallace. We are not going to comment until the investigation is complete and the findings are published.”

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What happened to striking doctors’ pledges to ‘do no harm?’

The latest call for strikes by the BMA resident doctors is a moment of sadness. It is sad for patients and sad for the NHS.

We are in the economic equivalent of a Covid crisis in the NHS; if the proposed reforms aren’t delivered, it will be an existential crisis for our health system. I do not say that at all lightly, but I do say it from decades of knowledge and experience.

It is a relief that reforms are already starting to see things moving in the right direction, but this action will choke off that recovery and put the NHS in a perilous place.

I was a GP for 29 years. It is a privilege to be a clinician and share people’s lives at difficult moments. It is our professional duty to put the people we care for before ourselves.

Last year’s (and this year’s) pay award amounts to a 28.9 per cent increase for resident doctors compared with three years ago. It is what many other people dream of, not to mention the almost unique index-linked NHS pensions.

It cannot have been easy to persuade the Treasury to pay out in such resource-constrained times. Having pocketed that, the resident doctors now need to accept that there is no more money for pay – reform has to have priority.

That said, there are valid issues to be sorted out in training, allocation to jobs, and working conditions. It isn’t right that resident doctors can be randomly allocated to posts, disrupting lives, or find the catering arrangements totally inadequate when on call.

However, the NHS 10-year plan contains within it a pledge to deal with such matters with speed. So, I just don’t understand the call for a strike. It is disproportionate when there is such an open door.

Without getting too Monty Python, as a junior doctor, I did one in two or one in three “on calls”, which meant working the days and also working through every other night (or third night) with time beyond 40 hours paid at a third of our normal rate.

It was brutal, but our representatives worked to make things better – and from this, the current generation benefit. We wouldn’t ever have considered taking action against our patients.

And this action is against patients. The resident doctors may be worried about their futures, but so is every patient who now might not be treated.

Polls suggest patients do not agree with the resident doctors. I hope the public supports the NHS and opposes the resident doctors this time. I hope resident doctors support the NHS – and not their leaders.

The proposed action will further erode trust by people in the NHS. It is already at an all-time low, and the consent of the nation to use 40 per cent of departmental spend on a poorly performing healthcare system is unlikely to continue without improvement.

This resident doctors’ action almost guarantees the end of the NHS if they continue, playing into the hands of those who want to have a different healthcare system.

This action is the industrial relations equivalent of the charge of the Light Brigade. The resident doctors should remember the spirit of the Hippocratic oath; first, do no harm.

Sir John Oldham was a GP for 29 years and is now a senior adviser to Wes Streeting

Starmer ‘accepts invite’ to visit Trump during expected Scotland trip

Sir Keir Starmer has accepted an invitation to visit Donald Trump during the US president’s expected trip to Scotland this month, according to sources.

Details, including a specific date, are still being finalised, the source familiar with the plans, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told Reuters on Thursday.

Scottish police said on Wednesday that they were preparing for a possible visit by Mr Trump to Scotland later this month, which would mark his first visit to Britain since the US election last year.

The White House had no immediate comment on the report. The British embassy declined to comment.

Mr Trump and Sir Keir have developed a warm relationship in recent months, and last month signed a framework trade deal on the sidelines of a G7 meeting that formally lowered some US tariffs on imports from Britain.

The deal came after the British prime minister visited the White House in February for a friendly encounter that included an invitation from King Charles for a future state visit, which Mr Trump accepted.

UK media this week reported that Mr Trump would visit his golf clubs in Scotland later this month, though a final date is yet to be confirmed. Sky News said he would visit his Turnberry and Aberdeenshire golf courses.

The cost of policing a potential visit by the US president will be “considerable”, a senior Police Scotland officer said as the force looks to secure extra funding. The visit will require substantial policing resources and likely units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.

Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs told the PA news agency on Thursday that Police Scotland will be discussing costs with the Scottish and UK Governments.

The last time Mr Trump came to Scotland – in between his two terms as US president – he was met with substantial protests.

Mr Speirs said he was confident the force would be able to deal with any protests, urging those who would want to demonstrate to “do it in a fair and reasonable way and within the realms of the law”.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government has been working collaboratively with the UK Government to support Police Scotland’s planning for a potential visit to Scotland by the President of the United States.”

Additonal reporting by Reuters