| | | | | | | Hello. Israel’s raid on Rafah on 12 February returned two hostages to their families, but it came at a high cost for the civilian population that has taken refuge in the southern Gaza city. Fergal Keane speaks to Gazans who lost relatives and suffered life-changing injuries that night. As the war in Ukraine enters a third year, our visual journalism team looks at how the front lines have changed. Finally, London is getting a new hotel in a most iconic location, and UK conservationists track down the nesting site of an elusive turtle in India. |
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| | | | | | AT THE SCENE | Rafah, Gaza | | The Gazans killed as Israel freed hostages | | | | Malak al-Najjar, aged 13, lost an eye on the same night of the Israeli military raid. Credit: BBC | | The rescue of two hostages held captive by Hamas in Rafah gave cause for celebration in Israel. But it left anger in Gaza, where the Hamas-run health ministry reported at least 74 deaths on the night of the operation. The Israeli army said it was committed to mitigating civilian harm and complying to international law. The survivors’ accounts contain details some readers may find distressing. | | | Nawara al-Najjar, who is six months pregnant, along with her six children - ranging in age from 13 to four - and her husband Abed-Alrahman had fled from their home in Khan Younis 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. 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. |
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| Questions Answered | | Tracking the war in Ukraine | | | | Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to keep fighting Russia. Credit: BBC |
| | The withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from the eastern city of Avdiivka marked Russia’s biggest victory in Ukraine since the fall of Bakhmut in May last year. While Russia keeps pressing on areas in the east and the south, Ukraine has been targeting the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Here’s what the war looks like as it enters a third year since Russia’s invasion. | | | | The Visual Journalism Team, BBC News |
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| | What were the reactions to the fall of Avdiivka? | | Russia's President Vladimir Putin has hailed it as an "important victory" - although the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was "likely that Russian forces lack the combat effectiveness to immediately exploit the capture of Avdiivka". Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision to withdraw was taken to save soldiers' lives and blamed faltering Western weapons supplies. | | How does Avdiivka’s fall affect the front line? | | Avdiivka has been a battlefield town since 2014, when Russian-backed fighters seized large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Its fall marks the biggest change on the more than 1,000km-long (620-mile) front line since Russian troops seized the nearby town of Bakhmut in May 2023. | | What’s happening there? | | Bakhmut has endured some of the heaviest fighting of the war and, although Ukraine gained some ground in the surrounding areas over the summer, recent assessments by US-based analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) suggest Russian forces have made advances around the city. Russia has also made slow progress further south near the villages of Robotyne and Verbove in Zaporizhzhia - an area where Ukraine had seen some success during its counter-offensive in 2023. | | | | | | |
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| | The big picture | | Evolving London landmark | | | | Originally called the Post Office Tower, its role in communications has diminished as technology changed. Credit: Reuters |
| | It’s the dawn of a new era for London’s iconic telecommunication tower, which has been sold by BT Group to MCR Hotels for £275m ($347m). The change of ownership has raised hopes that the tower’s revolving restaurant might be reinstated. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | The real Jurassic park | | In the Badlands of Alberta, Canada, lies the self-proclaimed "World Capital of Dinosaurs". | | |
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| | And finally... in India | | The first breeding population of an elusive turtle species has been discovered in India. A team of UK conservationists has uncovered the nesting site of the Cantor’s giant softshell turtle on the banks of the Chandragiri River in Kerala. Take a look at the rare reptile. |
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