‘Who will call me Dad?’ Tears of Gaza father who lost 103 relatives

Ahmad al-Ghuferi
Image caption,Ahmad al-Ghuferi was stuck in the West Bank when a bomb killed 103 members of his family in Gaza City

By Lucy Williamson

BBC News, Jericho

Ahmad al-Ghuferi missed the bomb that obliterated his family.  

When 103 relatives were killed in a strike on their family home in Gaza City, he was stuck 50 miles (80km) away, in the occupied West Bank town of Jericho.

Ahmad had been working on a Tel Aviv construction site when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October – unable to return to his wife and three young daughters because of the war that followed, and Israel’s military blockade. 

He spoke to them at the same time every day, when the phone connections allowed, and was on the phone to his wife, Shireen, as the attack happened on the evening of 8 December.

“She knew she would die,” he said. “She told me to forgive her for anything bad she might ever have done to me. I told her there was no need to say that. And that was the last call between us.”

A large bomb attack on his uncle’s house that evening killed his wife and his three young daughters – Tala, Lana and Najla. 

It also killed Ahmad’s mother, four of his brothers and their families, as well as dozens of his aunts, uncles and cousins. More than 100 dead in all. Over two months on, some of their bodies are still trapped under the rubble.

Last week, he marked his youngest daughter’s birthday. Najla would have turned two. Ahmad is still trying to grasp the loss.

Unable to hold his children’s bodies or be at their hurried burials, he still speaks of them in the present tense, his face motionless beneath the rolling tears.

“My daughters are little birds to me,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a dream. I still can’t believe what’s happened to us.”

Ahmad and his daughters
Image caption,Ahmad with his three daughters, Tala, Lana and Najla

He has removed pictures of the girls from his phone and laptop screens, so as not to be ambushed by them.

He has been left to piece together the story of what happened from the accounts of a few surviving relatives and neighbours.

They told him that a missile had first struck the entrance to his family’s house. 

“They hurried out and went to my uncle’s house nearby,” he said. “Fifteen minutes later, a fighter jet hit that house.”

The four-storey building where the family was killed sat around the corner from the Sahaba Medical Centre in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood.

It is now a mound of splintered concrete, the rubble shot through with bright dots of colour: a green plastic cup, shreds of dusty clothing.

Picture of destroyed house
Image caption,The house where Ahmad’s family were killed

The crumpled frame of a silver car, its windscreen twisted into a grimace, sits nearby under overhanging concrete rocks.

One of Ahmad’s surviving relatives, Hamid al-Ghuferi, told the BBC that when the strikes began, those who ran away up the hill survived, and those who sheltered in the house were killed. 

“It was a fire-belt,” he said. “There were strikes on the four houses next to ours. They were hitting a house every 10 minutes.”

“110 people from the Ghuferi family were there – our children and relatives,” he said. “All but a handful of them were killed.”

Survivors say the eldest victim was a 98-year-old grandmother; the youngest a baby boy born just nine days earlier.

Another relative, a cousin who is also called Ahmad, described two big explosions from an air strike.

“There was no advance warning,” he said. “If [some] people hadn’t already left this area, I think hundreds would have been killed. The area looks totally different now. There was a car park, a place to store water, and three houses plus one big house. The blast obliterated a whole residential area.”

Hamid said the survivors had worked until the early hours of the morning to retrieve the bodies from the rubble.

“Airplanes were hovering in the sky, and quadcopters were firing at us as we were trying to pull them out,” the cousin Ahmad said.

“We were sitting in the house and we found ourselves under the rubble,” Umm Ahmad al-Ghuferi told the BBC. “I was thrown from one side to the other. I don’t know how they got me out. We saw death in front of our eyes.”

Two and a half months on, they’re still trying to reach some of the bodies buried beneath the rubble. The family have collected money to hire a small digger, to chip away at the debris.

“We retrieved four bodies [today],” Ahmad told the BBC, “including my brother’s wife and my nephew Mohammed, who was pulled out in pieces. They had been under the rubble for 75 days.”

Their temporary graves lie in a piece of empty land nearby, marked by sticks and plastic sheeting.

Ahmad, stuck in Jericho, has not visited them.

“What did I do to be deprived of my mum, my wife, my children and my brothers?” he asked. “They were all civilians.”

We asked the Israeli army about the family’s allegations that it was targeted by air strikes. In response, the army said it was not aware of the strike in question, and that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took “feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm” in its war with Hamas.

There was intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas gunmen in the area of Shejaiyya, a few blocks south of the al-Ghuferi house, in the days immediately before and after Ahmad’s family were killed.

In a daily update on 9 December, the army said that it had “identified a number of terrorists armed with anti-tank missiles” approaching troops in Shejaiyya, and called in a helicopter strike on them.

Residents continue to search the rubble
Image caption,Residents continue to search the rubble by hand to find those buried underneath

It also said fighter jets had been striking terror targets in the Gaza Strip, as ground operations continued.

The area of Zeitoun, where the family house once stood, is now the focus of fresh operations by the IDF.

In Jericho, Ahmad still sometimes calls his surviving relatives in Gaza. But after months of being trapped outside his beloved home and desperate to return, he is no longer sure if he will ever go back.

“My dream was shattered in Gaza,” he said. “Who should I go back for? Who will call me Dad? Who will call me darling? My wife used to tell me I https://fokuslahlagi.com/ was all her life. Who will tell me that now?”

Jair Bolsonaro: Brazil’s former president denies coup allegations

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he has been a victim of political persecution since leaving office just over a year ago.

He told tens of thousands of supporters in São Paulo that coup allegations against him were a “lie”.

He also called for an amnesty for hundreds of his supporters convicted for attacks on public buildings.

Police are investigation whether Mr Bolsonaro incited a failed coup after losing the 2022 election.

Addressing Sunday’s rally in Brazil’s largest city, the 68-year-old former president dismissed the allegations against him as politically-motivated.

He said it was time to forget the past and let Brazil move on.

He also used his speech to talk about the next presidential elections in 2026.

Mr Bolsonaro is still barred from running for office for eight years for undermining the electoral system in Brazil and claiming the last election was fraudulent, despite there being no evidence of electoral fraud.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro addresses a rally in São Paulo. Photo: 25 February 2024
Image caption,Jair Bolsonaro to Brazil from the US in March 2023, saying he had nothing to fear

Huge crowds wearing yellow and green – the colours of the Brazilian flag – gathered to hear Mr Bolsonaro speak. Those I have spoken to say they are here demonstrating for freedom, and in particular freedom of speech.

They criticise what they see as threats to put Mr Bolsonaro in prison for “saying his opinion”.

Several of his supporters at the rally repeated unproven claims that the last election was fraudulent. He had asked them not to bring posters saying this or criticising institutions like the Supreme Court.

Alexandre França, a 53-year-old commercial director, told the BBC many people gathered for the rally because “we must express what we want for our country.

“Today everyone is afraid of being repressed. So I think we’re here to show our faces. We want Brazil for everybody, freedom for everybody,” he added.

Rogério Morgado, a 55-year-old military official, was another rally participant interviewed by the BBC. He said: “Brazilian politicians are afraid of people on the streets, it’s the only thing that Brazilian politicians are afraid of.”

Mr Bolsonaro’s speech is being watched closely by the authorities for anything that could be seen as inciting riots or undermining the electoral system.

Earlier this month, the former president had to surrender his passport as he is facing an investigation over the accusations that he tried to overturn the October 2022 election results and pressure military chiefs to join a coup attempt.

After he lost the poll to the left-winger Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, thousands of his supporters stormed government buildings in the capital Brasília – including the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and Congress – looting and vandalising the buildings.

Three of Mr Bolsonaro’s allies have since been arrested, and the head of his political party has also been detained.

Police accuse them of spreading doubts about the electoral system, which became a rallying cry for his supporters.

This, police argue, set the stage for a potential coup. When it failed to get the support of the armed forces, however, his frustrated supporters stormed Congress, the building housing the Supreme Court and the presidential palace, on 8 January last year.

Mr Bolsonaro was in the US when the attack on Congress happened. He returned to Brazil in March 2023, saying he had nothing to fear.

He remains the most influential https://fokuslahlagi.com/ figurehead for the right in Brazilian politics.

Arsenal 4-1 Newcastle: ‘Efficient’ Gunners showing ‘no fear’

Arsenal players celebrate scoring against Newcastle
Arsenal are the sixth side to win their first six Premier League matches of a calendar year – the last three have won the title

It has been some start to 2024 for Arsenal.

A sixth successive victory in the Premier League, 25 goals scored during that run and just three goals conceded – they are in the title fight and look determined to stay there.

The Gunners, of course, were in a similar position last year before their challenge fell away, but they are showing a hunger and resilience that suggests they are determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

“We are living the dream,” Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard told TNT Sports as his side moved two points behind leaders Liverpool in third.

“We have all dreamed of being here. You see every week how competitive it is and that is where we want to be – we want to fight for trophies.”

While Arsenal have won every game they have played in the Premier League in 2024, they did lose to Porto in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie in midweek, conceding a stoppage-time goal.

But they responded in style with four goals in a 4-1 win against Newcastle on Saturday.

“They look like a team really upset with the midweek performance. Their press and intensity was great – immediately on the front foot,” former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand said.

“The key is making sure they don’t let fear creep in, that would be easy. But there is no sign of that at the moment.

“They have become a very efficient team and unit right now.”

Odegaard added: “The year before we missed the Champions League and came back stronger. Last season we missed a title and now is the time to show we have learned – every time we play we are so excited.”

Arsenal’s record-breaking 2024 – the stats

  • Arsenal have become the sixth side to win their first six Premier League matches of a calendar year and the last three have won the title.
  • Their tally of 25 goals from six games is the most any team have scored from the start of a calendar year in the Premier League.
  • For the first time in their history, Arsenal have begun a calendar year with six successive league wins.
  • Bukayo Saka has scored in five consecutive league appearances for the first time in his career.
  • He is the first English player to score in five consecutive Premier League games for Arsenal since Ian Wright (7 between September and November 1994).
  • They have become the first team in Premier League history to score 2+ goals in seven consecutive halves of football.
  • Arsenal’s 27 set-piece goals this season (including 8 penalties) is their most on record in a single league campaign since Opta began recording such data in 2004-05.

‘World class’ Saka leading the way

Key to Arsenal’s impressive displays and results in 2024 has been the form of Bukayo Saka.

The England forward scored the Gunners’ third goal to take his tally for the season to 16 in all competitions.

It was also the fifth Premier League game in a row he has scored in, while he has also hit two doubles during that run – in the 6-0 win at West Ham and 5-0 victory at Burnley.

“Those moments are what are propelling him forward to be a world-class player one day,” added Ferdinand.

“He is a fantastic young player with a brilliant mindset and this is why he is producing on a consistent basis.”

Asked about being referred to as “world class”, Saka said: “No comment.

“I am happy with another goal today and more importantly happy to win.

“I am working hard every day and giving my best. Obviously I have great team-mates giving me good passes, which helps as well.

“We have been working hard and there is a lot of quality going forward, and it is starting to click now – we just need to continue with this [form].”

Shaping up for ‘one of best title races’

The victory for Arsenal moved them to one point behind defending champions Manchester City, who are second, and two points behind leaders Liverpool.

With 12 games remaining, it is shaping up to be a fascinating and tense title race.

“What a run-in we are going to get,” said former Scotland international Ally McCoist.

Former Gunner Ian Wright added on Match of the Day: “It is looking good. They are learning from last season, they just have to keep doing what they are doing. Arsenal are scoring goals left, right and centre.

“Arsenal this year feel different, and I think they will go all they way and push Liverpool and Manchester City. It will be one of the best title races for a long time.”

Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown added: “It is a must-win every week because of the standards.

“There are 12 games left and you have to win every one – there are some huge games coming up.”

However, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is determined to stay grounded.

“We are really happy, we have to continue to do the things that we are doing well,” he said.

“There are still things that we can do better and we are bringing big players back from injury so that is a big boost.

“Against Porto we were ourselves with the ball but not without the ball. It was a big lesson and you learn a lot from https://fokuslahlagi.com/ those moments.”

Trump calls on Alabama to protect IVF treatment after court ruling

Donald Trump
Image caption,The former president, 77, called on Alabama lawmakers to “act quickly” to protect IVF

By Lisa Lambert

BBC News, Washington

Donald Trump has said he supports the availability of IVF treatment, joining a growing number of Republicans who are seeking to distance themselves from an Alabama court ruling on the issue.

The state’s top court ruled last week that frozen embryos have the same rights as children and people can be held liable for destroying them.

At least three clinics paused IVF treatment in the wake of the ruling.

On Friday, Mr Trump called on Alabama to find “an immediate solution”.

“We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder! That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every State in America,” the former president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“[Like] the VAST MAJORITY of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, and Pro-Life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, in an apparent effort to ease concerns in the state, Alabama’s Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall said he did not intend to prosecute IVF providers or their families.

Mr Trump’s comments were his first on the issue, and signalled his opposition to a ruling which some Republicans fear could harm them electorally by hindering plans to win back suburban women as well as swing voters.

Mr Trump is the front-runner to win the Republican nomination for November’s election and arguably the leading voice in the party.

In a further sign of the party’s efforts to distance itself from the Alabama ruling, the National Republican Senate Committee, which helps members get elected to Congress, sent out a memo to candidates on Friday which directed them to express support for IVF and “campaign on increasing access” to the treatment.

“There are zero Republican Senate candidates who support efforts to restrict access to fertility treatments,” the committee’s executive director, Jason Thielman, wrote in the memo which was obtained by the BBC’s US partner CBS.

The memo also cited internal polling conducted by Kellyanne Conway, a one-time White House adviser to Mr Trump, to show access to IVF is overwhelmingly popular.

A number of Senate candidates, including Kari Lake in Arizona, came out to publicly support access to the treatment after the memo was circulated.

Mr Trump’s only challenger for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, initially appeared to back the ruling after she said she considers frozen embryos to be babies. She later denied that she supported the court’s decision.

While the Alabama ruling does not ban or restrict IVF, several medical providers in the state cited fears of legal repercussions as they paused fertility services in recent days.

It was made by the state’s Supreme Court and all of its justices are Republican.

Democrats are already incorporating the Alabama case into campaigning, portraying it as a warning that their rivals will seek to chip away at women’s rights if they win in the November election.

Mr Biden said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the Alabama decision was only possible because of the 2022 ruling by the US Supreme Court – which has three Trump appointees – to nullify abortion rights.

While many conservatives celebrated the end of Roe v Wade, it proved a potent get-out-the-vote motivator for Democrats and a https://fokuslahlagi.com/ messaging nightmare for Republicans.

Intuitive Machines: US company makes historic Moon landing

Artwork: Odysseus
Image caption,Artwork: Engineers are still working to establish the status of the lander… but it is on the Moon
Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent

By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent

@BBCAmos

An American company has made history by becoming the first commercial outfit to put a spacecraft on the Moon.

Houston-based Intuitive Machines landed its Odysseus robot near the lunar south pole.

It took some minutes for controllers to confirm the craft was down, but eventually a signal was received.

“What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting,” flight director Tim Crain announced.

Staff at the company cheered and clapped at the news.

It was an important moment, not just for the commercial exploitation of space but for the US space programme in general.

Intuitive Machines has broken the United States’ half-century absence from the Moon’s surface. You have to go back to the last Apollo mission in 1972 for an occasion when American hardware nestled down gently in the lunar soil.

The US space agency Nasa had purchased space on Odysseus for six scientific instruments, and its administrator Bill Nelson was quick to add his congratulations on what he described as a “triumph”.

“The US has returned to the Moon,” he said. “Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company – an American company – launched and led the voyage up there. And today is the day that shows the power and promise of Nasa’s commercial partnerships.”

Odysseus touched down at 23:23 GMT. At first there was no confirmation signal from the robot, and controllers had to wait several minutes before picking one up – and it was faint.

This will lead to some concerns about the status of the lander. Engineers will be going back through the data in the coming hours to try to understand precisely what happened – and to check that Odysseus is upright and collecting energy properly through its solar cells.

The targeted landing site was cratered terrain next to a 5km-high mountain complex known as Malapert. It’s the southernmost point on the Moon ever visited by a spacecraft, at 80 degrees South.

Nasa’s six payloads on board are a mix of technology demonstration and science.

A key investigation will be one looking at the behaviour of lunar dust, which the Apollo astronauts found to be a serious nuisance, scratching and clogging their equipment.

The agency’s scientists want to understand better how the dust is kicked up by landing craft to hang just above the surface before then settling back down.

The six commercial payloads on board include a student camera system from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which should have been deployed from Odysseus when it was still 30m above the lunar surface.

The system was designed to take selfie images as the robot set itself down.

The American artist Jeff Koons has also attached a box to the side of the lander that contains 125 small stainless steel balls to represent the https://fokuslahlagi.com/ Moon’s different phases through a month.

‘Dad, please don’t go out’: The Gazans killed as Israel freed hostages

Abed-Alrahman Al-Najjar
Image caption,Abed-Alrahman al-Najjar was killed on 12 February

By Fergal Keane

BBC News, Jerusalem

When Israeli special forces rescued two of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas, there was relief for their families and a boost for national morale. But the rescue on 12 February has left angry feelings in Gaza, where more than 70 people were reported killed on the night.

Warning: Readers may find some of the details below distressing.

Nawara al-Najjar was asleep in the tent that had been her family’s home in Rafah for the last five weeks, just a few hundred metres away from the site of the rescue raid.

Lying on the ground were Nawara, who is six months pregnant, her six children – ranging in age from 13 to four – and her husband Abed-Alrahman.

They had fled from their home in Khan Younis, about 9km (6 miles) north, following the instructions of the Israel Defense Forces who said Rafah was a safe area.

Before falling asleep, the couple discussed what to do about two of their children who had been injured. Their son had been burned by scalding food, and their daughter was recovering from facial paralysis caused by trauma in the early stages of the war.

Before they became refugees, Abed-Alrahman did whatever work he could find to support his family, often as a labourer on farms.

They were a strong couple who always tried to solve problems together.

“My husband was anxious, thinking about how he would find a way to treat them and where to take them,” Nawara says. “Our neighbours said they wanted to take my daughter to a doctor for treatment… So, we decided that he would be in charge of our son, and I would be in charge of my daughter.”

Then something unusual happened. Nawara usually slept surrounded by the children. But that night, Abed-Alrahman asked to change the arrangement. “Before he went to sleep, he asked me to come and sleep next to him. It was the first time he said, ‘Come sleep with me’.”

They fell into the exhausted sleep of refugee life. Then shortly before 02:00 (00:00 GMT), Nawara woke to the sound of shooting.

Abed-Alrahman said he would go out and see what was happening.

Nawara says: “Our oldest son was telling him, ‘Dad, please don’t go out’. [Abed-Alrahman] was trying to reassure him that nothing would happen; my son was telling him not to go out, that he would die.”

Then she felt a searing pain in her head. Shrapnel from an explosion had ripped into the tent.

Nawara started screaming. At first she could not see anything. After some minutes her vision returned in time to see Abed-Alrahman in his death throes. She remembers the “rattle” of his final breaths.

“When my children first saw him, they were screaming, ‘Oh, father, oh father, don’t leave us, don’t leave us’. I told them, ‘Stay away from your father. Just pray for him’.”

Daughter Malak, aged 13, was hit in the eye by a splinter of shrapnel. Four other children sustained minor wounds. They also endured the trauma of what they heard and saw – the explosions and their father being carried away to hospital. Later that night, in a hospital filled with other victims, it was confirmed to Nawara that Abed-Alrahman was dead.

Weeping, she asks: “What was his sin? What was his children’s sin? What’s my sin? I became a widow at 27.

Malak says she was taken to three different hospitals to try and get treatment, but she lost her eye.

“I was not treated immediately. Only after three days was my surgery performed. I was injured in the eye and I was also shot in my waist. I’m in pain, pain, pain.”

Then Malak became distraught, and cried out: “I lost my dad. Enough!”

Malak Al-Najjar
Image caption,Malak al-Najjar, aged 13, lost an eye on the same night of the Israeli military raid

According to the health ministry, run under the direction of the Hamas government in Gaza, at least 74 people were killed during the raid in the early hours of 12 February.

It is not possible to say precisely how many of the dead were civilians and how many were fighters. But witnesses and medical sources suggest a high proportion of the dead were non-combatants. The independent Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, based in Gaza, using details obtained from hospital lists, says 27 children and 22 women were among those killed.

Mohammed al-Zaarab, 45, a father-of-10 from Khan Younis, also fled to Rafah believing it would be safe. He remembers being woken in his tent by the intensity of the assault. “They were shelling with helicopters, with F-16 jets …My son was shot in his hand. Our neighbour was shot in the head.”

The following day, Mohammed’s elderly father felt unwell. He took him to the doctor, but soon after the old man died of a heart attack. “I buried him. Today is the third day in his grave. Why is this happening to us?” he asks.

The International Medical Corps – which provides emergency aid in crisis zones around the world – runs a field hospital near the scene. Dr Javed Ali, a surgeon from Pakistan, was jolted awake by the first strikes and went to shelter in a safe room in the staff quarters near the hospital.

“Aside from the air strikes, we were hearing tanks in the background, there was active exchange of fire from small firearms, as well as a helicopter gunship that was going over the hospital fighting and firing in all directions. So, it was very, very scary. We thought that this was it.”

Hearing the sound of ambulances, the medics decided to leave the safe room and help. Along with the wounded came women and children seeking shelter.

“The hospital itself is a tent structure. So there were a lot of concerns. Obviously, if there is any strike towards the hospital it will be devastating, but we had to make a decision to save as many patients as possible.”

The Al-Najjar family
Image caption,Nawara al-Najjar, sitting with some of her children, was injured by shrapnel that ripped into her tent on 12 February

Many of the dead were thought to be still lying under the rubble of destroyed houses. Another doctor – from the international agency Médecins Sans Frontières – sent a series of anguished voice messages to colleagues in London after sunrise on 12 February.

She described lying across her children’s bodies to protect them as shrapnel flew through the windows of the room where they were sheltering. The doctor has given the BBC permission to quote the messages but wants to remain anonymous.

Her account of what she found after the raid is harrowing.

“At our home when we were checking, I found pieces of human flesh. We found a whole lower limb belonging to a human that we don’t know who he is. When I saw the pieces of flesh on the floor, I cried.”

Since the beginning of the IDF incursion into Gaza, the military has accused Hamas of using the civilian population as human shields, and using medical facilities to conceal military operations and hide hostages.

The rescue of two hostages – Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70 – in Rafah this month was a rare success for the Israeli teams searching for more than 130 people, including two children, still believed to be held captive.

In a statement to the BBC about the events of 12 February, an IDF spokesman said it was “committed to mitigating civilian harm” during military operations. Military lawyers advised commanders so that strikes complied with international legal obligations.

The statement says: “This process is designed to ensure that senior commanders have all reasonably available information and professional advice that will ensure compliance with the Law of Armed Conflict, including by providing ‘Target Cards’ which facilitate an analysis that is conducted on a strike-by-strike basis, and takes into account the expected military advantage and the likely collateral civilian harm, amongst other matters.

“Even where circumstances do not allow for a targeting process involving this level of deliberate pre-planning and pre-approval, IDF regulations emphasise that commanders and soldiers must still comply with the Law of Armed Conflict.”

Photo uploaded to social media of Simon Marman and Louis Har being reunited with their families
Image caption,Israeli hostages Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har were reunited with their families shortly after being rescued on 12 February

Human rights organisations have previously accused Israel of using disproportionate force. In a statement on 8 February – four days before the hostage raid – Human Rights Watch warned that Israel “might be carrying out unlawfully indiscriminate attacks. When it comes to the question of whether Israel is violating the law in Gaza, there is enough smoke to suspect a fire”.

In December US President Joe Biden warned Israel against “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.

Any legal deliberation on whether the raid constituted a disproportionate use of force, and therefore a war crime, must await an independent investigation. With no end to the war in sight, that process may take a long time.

The anonymous MSF doctor who found body parts in her home is deeply pessimistic.

“To be honest, the one who died is the one who is lucky… the one who is left has been cursed and abandoned by all people around the world. It’s not fair… I don’t know how anybody can sleep knowing that our kids are suffering for nothing. We are only civilians.”

Her message comes from inside the frightened, claustrophobic confines of Rafah, where 1.5 million people – six times its normal population – have sought shelter.

Israel is threatening an invasion of Rafah in the next few weeks, necessary, it says, to destroy Hamas. The fear for the refugees is that the horror of 12 February will soon be overtaken by new miseries, and forgotten by the https://fokuslahlagi.com/ international community.

Super Bowl parade shooting: Two men charged with murder

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Police after the Kansas City shooting
Image caption,One person was killed and 22 others were injured during the 14 February shooting in Kansas City.

By Bernd Debusmann Jr

BBC News, Washington

Two men have been charged with murder for last week’s deadly shooting at the Super Bowl victory parade in Kansas City.

A woman died and 22 others were injured during the shooting, which police said stemmed from the two men arguing.

The charged men – identified as Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays – were both shot and wounded during the incident.

Two teenagers were charged with gun and resisting arrest violations last week.

Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker of Jackson County said at a press conference on Tuesday that the two men had been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

Mr Mays was the one who got into an argument at the event and drew a handgun, Ms Peters Baker alleged.

Other people then drew guns during the incident, officials said. That included Mr Miller, who prosecutors believe is the one who shot and killed Lisa Lopez Galvan, 43, during the incident.

Both men are being held on a $1m (£792,000) bond. The two were initially taken to a hospital to be treated for their injuries after the shooting. They remain in hospital, where they are recovering.

Ms Lopez Galvan’s family said in a statement that they were thankful for the arrest of the two suspects.

“Though it does not bring back our beloved Lisa, it is comforting to know that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office and the KCPD made it a top priority to seek justice for Lisa, the other shooting victims, those who had to witness this tragedy unfold and the Kansas City community,” the statement said.

Kansas City Parade route
Image caption,Super Bowl Parade route in downtown Kansas City

Their charges are in addition to the two teenagers who were charged last week.

“These are adults,” Ms Peters Baker said, clarifying confusion about the new charges. “There are two juveniles that has been reported already pretty broadly by the news media. Those are being handled by a different office at this point in time.”

It is unclear what led to the altercation, and the investigation into the shooting remains ongoing. Ms Peters Baker said that further charges may follow.

“We seek to hold every shooter accountable for their actions on that day – every single one,” she said. “So while we’re not there yet on every single individual, we’re going to get there.”

The 22 people wounded in the incident ranged in age from eight to 47, according to Kansas City police.

The shooting was one of several to take place at sports celebrations across the US in recent memory.

In June last year, a shooting at a celebration for the Denver Nuggets NBA team left 10 people wounded, including one of two people charged https://fokuslahlagi.com/ in relation to the incident

Alexei Navalny’s body to be held for two weeks for ‘chemical analysis’, family told

Flowers are laid outside the Russian embassy, following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, in Copenhagen, Denmark, February 17, 2024.
Image caption,Flowers outside the Russian embassy in Copenhagen – just one of the cities where tributes have been paid

By Adam Durbin

BBC News

The family of Alexei Navalny, the Putin critic who died in a Russian prison, have reportedly been told his body will not be released for two weeks.

His mother was informed it was being held for “chemical analysis”, a representative for Navalny said.

There has been no confirmation of the whereabouts of the body from Russian authorities, while efforts to locate it have been repeatedly shut down.

The wife of the late Russian opposition leader has accused them of hiding it.

In a video on Monday vowing to continue his work to fight for a “free Russia”, Yulia Navalnaya directly accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of killing her husband. She also alleged his body was being kept until traces of poisoning by the nerve agent Novichok had disappeared.

Her voice sometimes shaking with grief and anger, Ms Navalnaya asked viewers to stand alongside her and “share the fury and hate for those who dared to kill our future”.

https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.51.0/iframe.htmlMedia caption,

Watch: ‘I will continue Alexei’s work’, says Navalny’s widow

Navalny’s death in prison was announced on Friday. The authorities at the Siberian penal colony where he was being held said he had never regained consciousness after he collapsed following a walk.

His mother and lawyer travelled to the remote colony as soon as news of his death broke.

Attempts to locate the body have repeatedly been shut down by the prison mortuary and local authorities.

On Monday, the Kremlin said an investigation into Navalny’s death was ongoing and that there were “no results” as of yet.

Later, Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said that investigators had told Navalny’s mother Lyudmila they would not hand over the body for two weeks while they conducted a “chemical analysis”.

Lyudmila Navalnaya walking alongisde lawyers after visiting the Investigative Committee in Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets region on 19 February
Image caption,Lyudmila Navalnaya (right) has travelled to the remote Siberian region where Navalny was imprisoned

In her video message, Ms Navalnaya said she believed the authorities were waiting for Novichok to disappear from Navalny’s body.

Navalny, who was the Russian opposition’s most significant leader for the last decade, had been serving a 19-year sentence on charges many viewed as politically motivated.

Western leaders have put the blame for Navalny’s death squarely on President Putin.

Responding to questions from reporters on Monday, President Joe Biden said: “The fact of the matter is: Putin is responsible, whether he ordered it or he is responsible for the circumstances he put that man in.”

During a press conference on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he Navalny had been “slowly murdered in a Russian jail by Putin’s regime”.

Both the EU and the US have said they are considering new sanctions on Russia following Navalny’s death.

The UK Foreign Secretary, Lord Cameron, has also said he expects Britain and the rest of the G7 group of rich nations to impose fresh sanctions on any Russians involved in the death.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said comments by Western politicians in regards to Navalny’s death were “arrogant” and “unacceptable”.

Russian prison authorities said at the https://fokuslahlagi.com/weekend that Navalny had suffered “sudden death syndrome”.

Israel sets March deadline for Gaza ground offensive in Rafah

A woman sits next to a destroyed building in Rafah, southern Gaza. Photo: February 2024
Image caption,The Hamas-run health authority reported casualties and destruction in recent Israeli air strikes in Rafah

Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz has warned that unless Hamas frees all hostages held in Gaza by 10 March an offensive will be launched in Rafah.

It is the first time Israel has said when its troops might enter Gaza’s overcrowded southern city.

Global opposition is growing to such an attack in Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Earlier, the UN public health agency said a key Gaza hospital had ceased to function following an Israeli raid.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said it had not been allowed to enter Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, north of Rafah, to assess the situation.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) entered the complex on Thursday, saying intelligence indicated hostages taken by Hamas were being held there.

The IDF has described its operation in Nasser as “precise and limited”, accusing Hamas of “cynically using hospitals for terror”.

Speaking on Sunday, Mr Gantz, a former defence minister, said: “The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area”.

Ramadan – the Islamic holy month of fasting – this year begins on 10 March.

Mr Gantz added that Israel would act in “a co-ordinated manner, facilitating the evacuation of civilians in dialogue with our American and Egyptian partners to minimise civilian casualties”.

The Israeli war cabinet consists of the country’s top security officials. It was formed several days after Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on 7 October, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages. Hamas is still holding about 130 hostages in Gaza, Israel believes.

Mr Gantz’s reference to Egypt may serve to heighten speculation that Israel expects some Palestinians to cross out of the Gaza Strip and seek shelter on the Egyptian side of the border, where the authorities appear to be building a large walled enclosure for this purpose, says the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams.

But Israeli officials have yet to give any details of an evacuation plan, he adds.

With exactly three weeks to go before the start of Ramadan, reports from Rafah say that a few people are leaving, heading west towards the coast, but that most are still waiting, unsure what to do.

Despite international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch a ground assault on Rafah to eliminate Hamas gunmen there.

Map showing Israeli ground operations in southern Gaza (4 February 2023)

In response to the 7 October attack by Hamas, Israel launched a military campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 28,400 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and more than 68,000 wounded since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The ministry says at least 127 Palestinians have been killed and 205 others injured in the past 24 hours.

Despite the continued fighting in Gaza, efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have been taking place in Cairo in recent days – although Qatari mediators said progress was “not very promising”.

Mr Netanyahu said he sent negotiators following a request from US President Joe Biden, but added they did not return for further discussions because Hamas’s demands were “delusional”.

Hamas has blamed Israel for a lack of progress https://fokuslahlagi.com/ towards achieving a ceasefire deal.

Alexei Navalny death: Team accuses Russia of ‘hiding’ his body

Alexei Navalny in Moscow in 2020
Image caption,Alexei Navalny, seen here in Moscow in 2020, had long been an outspoken critic of President Putin’s regime

By James Gregory

BBC News

Alexei Navalny’s mother has been unable to recover his body after his death in an Arctic jail, a close aide to the dead Russian opposition leader says.

Kira Yarmysh said his mother, Lyudmila, was told his body would only be handed over once a post-mortem examination had been completed.

Navalny’s team believes the anti-corruption campaigner was murdered on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

A rights group said 300 Russians had been arrested for laying tributes.

Western governments say the blame lies with Russian authorities for the 47-year-old’s sudden death, while foreign ministers from the G7 group of rich countries called on Russia to “urgently clarify” the circumstances surrounding it.

Mr Putin has not publicly commented since the Russian prison service announced on Friday that Navalny had been taken ill and died at the remote IK-3 prison in the Arctic Circle.

In the immediate aftermath, the Kremlin said it was aware and the president had been informed.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected “biased and unrealistic” assessments over his cause of death made during a meeting with British officials on Saturday.

Navalny was one of the most prominent faces of Russian opposition to Mr Putin’s regime and was serving a three-decade sentence for politically-motivated charges at the “Polar Wolf” penal colony in Kharp, about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) north of Moscow.

His mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, was reportedly told by the prison service he died on Friday after collapsing and falling unconscious during a walk, his team said.

She visited the colony on Saturday and was given an official notice stating the time of death as 14:17 local time (09:17 GMT), Ms Yarmysh said.

Another Navalny ally, Ivan Zhdanov, said the activist’s mother was told he died of “sudden death syndrome” – a generic, vague term for a condition which causes sudden death from cardiac arrest with no apparent cause.

His team said that Ms Navalnaya was told his body had been taken to the town of Salekhard, near the prison complex, but when she arrived the morgue was closed.

Prison officials reportedly told her an initial post-mortem examination was inconclusive and a second would have to be carried out.

Navalny’s allies claim his body is purposely being withheld by the Russian authorities so they can “cover traces”, and call for the body to be returned to his family “immediately”.

https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.51.0/iframe.htmlMedia caption,

Watch: Russians dragged away after leaving Navalny tributes

Meanwhile, more than 300 people have been arrested following vigils and gatherings across Russia, according to independent Russian human rights monitoring group OVD-Info.

OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia, said arrests had taken place in 32 cities, with the largest numbers in the capital Moscow and St Petersburg.

On Saturday, police in Moscow detained about 15 people who had laid flowers and lit candles at the foot of the “Wall of Grief” monument to the victims of repression during the Soviet-era.

Protests are also being held near Russian embassies in many countries.

G7 foreign ministers meeting at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday observed a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the Russian activist.

British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the UK would be “taking action”.

“When appalling human rights outrages like this take place, what we do is we look at whether there are individual people that are responsible and whether there are individual measures and actions we can take,” said Cameron, who added that he would not share in advance what measures the UK intended.

Also in Munich was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who described Mr Putin as a “thug” and said it was “absurd” to perceive him as the “legitimate head of a Russian state”.

Navalny had been an outspoken critic of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began two years ago https://fokuslahlagi.com/ next week.