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Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
'I am a surgeon in Gaza – food aid points are designed to be death traps'
Five Gaza experts including a senior British medic and community leaders leaders speak out after Israeli forces killed 116 aid seekers at food points in the deadliest day for civilian deaths Siobhan McNally is a Senior Features Writer for the Mirror and Sunday Mirror – in print and online. Previously she was a columnist and edited the Community Column at the Mirror. Now back in London after 25 years in Winchester – complete with travelling circus of two cats, one ancient pug and a grumpy teenager – Siobhan specialises in general interest national stories, nostalgia, history and music. Also has a passion for quirky, fun foodie ideas and a sudden age-related interest in gardening. Get in touch with ideas and stories to Professor Nick Maynard, consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospital I've been operating on trauma injuries in Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis, for the last four weeks. My health care colleagues from Gaza have described the aid points as death traps designed to create chaos and incite rioting. This is my third trip to Gaza since October 7 – and although many things are similar in terms of air strikes, what is different is the rise in the number of shootings at the food distribution points. We're several km away from the aid sites – we're the nearest hospital and all the people come to us. Food is kept in a compound which is locked, and they wait until hundreds of aid seekers have collected and then open up a very narrow gate, and then there's just complete chaos and everyone fighting for food. An anaesthetist colleague of mine from Gaza rushed down to the food site in between operations to get food for his family, came back covered in cuts and bruises because of the rioting. All of our surgeons have seen a pattern of injuries among predominantly – but not exclusively – young teenage males who are sent by their starving families to get food. They seem to be targeting different body parts on different days. Some days they come in with gunshot wounds to the head or the neck, the next day the chest, the next, the abdomen. Nine days ago we saw four small, four young teenagers who had all been shot in the testicles at the same time. I have seen all abdominal and chest injuries – that's what I operate on – and terrible injuries to the pancreas, duodenum, bowel, you name it. So the pattern is a very clear pattern of targeting and it's almost like they're playing a game. I'm getting identical descriptions from people of Israeli soldiers just shooting indiscriminately at people, I've been told they're using artificial intelligence, and remotely controlled hovering quadcopters with four rotors and cameras and guns attached. A friend of mine who's a theatre nurse at Nasser Hospital was shot last year when a quadcopter came into the operating theatre and shot him in the chest. As well as the teenage boys, I've seen women in tents near the food distribution centre and they describe quadcopters firing indiscriminately at all the tents. One woman was three months pregnant and another was breastfeeding her three-month-old baby at the time. It is inconceivable to me that these are collateral damage. This is deliberate targeting and what all of us have witnessed. This is not a famine. It is mass extermination Omar Abdel-Mannan, founder of Health Workers 4 Palestine As we speak, Gaza is being deliberately starved. Today, ambulances across the Strip turned on their sirens in unison – a collective cry for help from a population pushed to the brink. The majority of the territory is now classified as Category 5: the most severe level of food insecurity. Even if aid were allowed in today, many would still die. This is not a famine. It is mass extermination. What's happening in Gaza is not just enabled by Israel – it is facilitated by its allies. And the UK is complicit. It continues to supply Israel with components for F-35 fighter jets – the very aircraft used to flatten homes, hospitals, and refugee camps. British-made parts are helping to slaughter civilians. This is not neutrality; it's active participation. History will judge this moment. And those in power – including Keir Starmer – will not be absolved. They will be remembered as enablers of war crimes. Inside Gaza, doctors are being assassinated, detained, tortured – over 1,500 killed to date and over 400 detained illegally. This is a systematic erasure of a healthcare system – the murder of those who save lives. Meanwhile, in the UK, medics who speak out face career-threatening smear campaigns and regulatory complaints driven by pro-Israel lobby groups. NHS England has already confirmed that antisemitism is covered under the Equality Act, yet the Health Secretary is now interfering with the independence of the regulator to appease political allies. We must end this complicity. We must fight for a future where Palestinian health workers – those who have risked everything – are not only protected, but empowered to lead the rebuilding of their shattered health system. That means Palestinian-led healthcare. That means sovereignty, dignity, and justice. • Voices of Solidarity, which took place on Saturday 19 July, was the UK's largest cultural fundraiser for Palestine, raising money for the Health Workers 4 Palestine (HW4P) Solidarity Fund. Proceeds go towards life-saving healthcare on the ground and supporting health workers under siege – The waste of human lives is sickening Laura Janner-Klausner, former senior rabbi to Reform Judaism and rabbi of Bromley Reform Synagogue We need world leaders to step in and help us get out of this sickening situation. The Israeli government, Hamas, Islamic Jihad – who are also holding hostages – should be applying pressure to stop immediately what they are doing, to ensure there is safe and sufficient humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, getting directly to the Gazans who desperately need it. Release all the hostages, stop the attacks – on both sides. That's for the short term. In the medium term, we need an honourable, quick divorce so there is an end of war, not just a shaky ceasefire. And in the long term, we need to live together: two peoples. Separation has not helped us in the past, and we need responsible adults back in the room who can set aside their hatred for each other and work together to stop the senseless violence. The vast majority of British Jews are absolutely distraught about what is happening in Gaza. The waste of human lives is sickening. An Israeli child and a Palestinian child are the same. Sick and injured people need full medical care wherever they live. Food is food, and people are starving. Both sides are dehumanising each other, but they need to find a way to live together. International community has failed to deliver Tufail Hussain, director of Islamic Relief UK Today's latest atrocities in Gaza are beyond cruel. Desperate, starving people should never be targeted, yet the Israeli military continues to do so. It is heartbreaking to see people who want to feed themselves and their families being heartlessly murdered. This is a man-made catastrophe that the international community could have put a stop to by now. This latest barbarity will once again be condemned, but without political action to demand a ceasefire, lift the siege of Gaza and force Israel to let international aid in, then these condemnations are hollow. For almost two years, aid agencies and human rights groups have been demanding a ceasefire, which the international community has failed to deliver. They must now finally take action to prevent the future horrors that will be inflicted upon the Palestinian people. They are kettling desperate, starving people Brian Brivtai, CEO of the Britain Palestine Project The whole Israeli campaign in Gaza is entirely disproportionate to any kind of self defence. The purposeful targeting of civilians, and the starvation of a population, are crimes against humanity. Recent developments are incredibly disturbing. First, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid operation, which concentrates people in smaller and smaller areas, has basically created shooting galleries. They are kettling people who are desperate and starving, who see food and try and get it, and who then are being shot dead. But Israel's plan for a 'humanitarian city' is the most terrifying development of all. If you concentrate 2 million people in a single, tiny location, and deny them the means to life because you've destroyed their hospitals and reduced the amount of food you're giving them, then you are intentionally committing genocidal acts. Israel wants to reduce the Palestinian part of Gaza to an absolutely minimum geographical area, and they are going to flatten the rest of it, then annex it. We laughed at Trump's suggestion of the Gaza Riviera, but I think that's what we are going to see happen. All the British government needs to do is obey international law, not more than that. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has deemed it plausible that Israel is creating a plausible case for genocide, and it's our responsibility under that amendment to prevent it. Not to wait until Israel has killed 200,000, 300,000 Palestinians, but to act to prevent it now.
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Plan to humiliate Donald Trump during UK visit raises £10,000 in a day
Campaigners plan to plaster Britain with embarrassing posters of Donald Trump - while Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey says he "has a nerve" to come here at all Campaigners planning to plaster Britain with embarrassing posters of Donald Trump in time for his visit to Scotland have raised £10,000 in donations. And Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the US President 'has a nerve' to come to the UK after his 'hokey cokey' approach to steel tariffs left UK manufacturing in limbo. Trump is set to travel to Scotland on Wednesday, and will visit his two golf courses during the trip. And Keir Starmer is expected to meet with the US President during the visit. 'Trump has nerve coming over to the UK when he's spent the last year playing tariff hokey-cokey with the British economy,' The Lib Dem leader told the Sunday Mirror. 'But in fairness, he can do less damage on a golf course than in the White House. 'His back of the envelope tariff 'plan' is hitting steelworkers hard across the country — and with nothing yet to show for the deal he signed with the Prime Minister, there's no end in sight for their worries.' When Trump last visited the UK in 2019, as many as 250,000 protesters lined the streets jeering and booing as he drove past in his presidential limousine, The Beast. Banners were unfurled by protesters bearing messages including 'No-one Likes You', 'Trump=Wasteman' and 'No Human Is Illegal'. And a giant blimp depicting Trump as a giant baby wearing a nappy floated over London during his visit. And on Thursday a huge poster of Trump with dead paedophile Jeffrey Epstein appeared on a bus stop near the US Embassy. It was the work of campaign group Everyone Hates Elon - who intend to plaster the UK with the embarrassing snap during Trump's visit, in what it describes as an 'act of public service.' 'In less than 24 hours we've hit our first target of £10,000 to make sure the photo of trump with Epstein follows him all over the UK, and now we're going to aim higher,' a spokesperson told the Mirror. Organisers say for every £15 raised they'll add another square metre to a huge banner of the image. "The Jeffrey Epstein files are tearing apart Trump's MAGA movement right now with even loyal supporters up in arms. So help us to expose Trump's crimes, while also fuelling the end of his hateful movement. In just a few weeks we can give him a welcome he'll never forget.'
Daily Mirror
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
'I'm a money expert - 3 simple rules will help you become instantly richer'
Multi award-winning Chartered Financial Planner, Certified Coach, author of The Money Plan, and Sunday Mirror columnist It's time to get serious about your money... The cost of everything has increased, yet wages and pensions haven't kept up. It's tough out there. Therefore it's essential you know your numbers – money isn't as complicated as you might think. Clarity gives you the ability to make better decisions and live the life you want to live. We can't put life on pause because the economy is out of whack. I often refer to ALIE as every financial planner's best friend: assets, liabilities, income and expenditure. The hardest step is the first one – so where should you begin? Get organised Start by working out what's coming in and what's going out. If you're struggling financially, or anticipate you will be soon, it's so easy to bury your head in the sand and ignore the problem. It's also the worst thing you can do. List all of the money coming in and going out every month (some of the online-only banks can automate this process for you) so you know where you stand. You might even find direct debits for things you stopped using long ago. Look through credit card statements – regular payments made by a credit card can often be missed when you review your expenditure, make sure you include these too. Next, look at what you owe and what you own. If you've got outstanding debts, write them down. Make sure you're on the lowest interest rate you can get by contacting any credit card providers. It's fair to expect interest rates to start to reduce, therefore your borrowing costs may also reduce. Take this opportunity to review the market and consider a better deal. Finally, don't forget to organise what you own, including which companies your pensions are held with. Get the best deals and tips from Mirror Money WHATSAPP GROUP: Get money news and top deals straight to your phone by joining our Money WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Cut outgoings Go through each item of expenditure and ask yourself three things: Do I need this? Do I want this? Can I get a similar experience for less? Unless you plan to rely on savings, you've simply got to have more coming in than going out. If you're taking a financial hit at the moment, that might mean making tough choices and some cuts you don't want to make. Your TV subscriptions might need downgrading, or that phone upgrade might just have to wait. Also, consider reviewing your energy bill and fuel costs. I regularly look at the price of the electricity I use and I shop around to get a better deal. Remember, if you're struggling, this period doesn't have to last forever; it's to get you through this difficult time until you're back on an even keel. Increase incomings At the same time, think about any ways you can improve your earnings. Thanks to the likes of eBay, Vinted and Facebook Marketplace, it's never been easier to sell unwanted items my 18-year-old daughter sells her unwanted clothes on Vinted and Depop, I am sure you can too. If you're on a modest income, have lost your job or have children, it may be worth checking out the website to check your eligibility for any benefits. It's a great resource that may surprise you. And you could also consider any online training or upskilling you could do to improve your salary in the future, or returning back to full-time education using the Advanced Learner Loan at If you already have a skill, you could consider a side hustle using sites like or Armed with information, you can improve your financial position and make it through the storm, you may decide to carry on your new habits to build the financial future you desire.
Daily Mirror
13-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Savers urged to make their money go further by doing one simple thing
Multi award-winning Chartered Financial Planner, Certified Coach, author of The Money Plan, and Sunday Mirror columnist We are living in a time of extreme uncertainty and the anxiety that comes along with it. Against the backdrop of recent high inflation and market turmoil we have wars, AI technology disruption, the cost of living crisis, and economic hardship. It's natural to wonder what effect these world events will have on our long-term investment performance. While these challenges certainly warrant our attention and deep concern, they don't have to be a reason to panic about markets when you're focused on long-term investing. Imagine it's 25 years ago and the year is 2000. Devolution – The Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly had recently been established (in 1999), marking a significant shift in UK constitutional politics. The Millennium Dome – Opened on 1 January 2000 in Greenwich to celebrate the turn of the new millennium. The US stock market – The Dow Jones Industrial Average had already passed 11,000 in 1999, but in 2000, the tech-heavy NASDAQ peaked above 5,000 before correcting over the next two years. Tony Blair – Was serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, having first taken office in 1997. The internet is in its infancy, Y2K looms, and everyone is worried about the Russian financial crisis. A stranger offers to tell you what's going to happen over the course of the next 25 years. Here's the big question: Would you invest in the stock market knowing the following events were going to happen? And could you stay invested? Asian contagion Russian default Tech collapse 9/11 7/7 Stocks' 'lost decade' Great Recession Global pandemic Second Russian default Ukraine invasion Israeli invasion of Gaza With everything I just mentioned, what would you have done? Gotten into the market? Gotten out? Increased your equity holdings? Decreased them? Well, let's look at what happened. From 2000 to now, the world stock market has returned, on average, over 7 per cent a year. A pound invested at the beginning of the period would be worth over £6 now. These returns are very much in line with what returns have been over the history of the stock market. How can that be? The market is doing its job. It's science. Investing in markets is uncertain. The role of markets is to price in that uncertainty. There were a lot of negative surprises over the past 25 years, but there were a lot of positive ones as well. The net result was a stock market return that seems very reasonable, even generous. It's a tribute to human ingenuity that when negative forces pop up, people and companies respond and mobilise to get things back on track. Human ingenuity created incredible innovations over the past 25 years. Plenty of things went wrong, but plenty of things went right. There's always opportunity out there. Think about how different life is from the way it was in 2000: the way we work, the way we communicate, the way we live. For example, the gross domestic product of the US in 1999 was $10.25 trillion and is projected to grow to over $30.51 trillion in 2025. I am an eternal optimist, because I believe in people. I have an unshakable faith in human beings' ability to deal with tough times. In 2000, few would have forecast a 7% average return for the stock market. But that remarkable return was available to anyone who could open an investment account, buy a broad-market portfolio, and let the market do its job. Investing in the stock market is always uncertain. Uncertainty never goes away. If it did, there wouldn't be a stock market. It's because of uncertainty that we have a positive premium when investing in stocks vs. relatively riskless assets. In my opinion, reaping the benefits of the stock market requires being a long-term investor. By investing in a market portfolio, you're not trying to figure out which stocks are going to thrive, and which aren't going to be able to recover. You're betting on human ingenuity to solve problems. The pandemic was a big blow to the economy. But people, companies and markets adapt. That's my worldview. Whatever the next blow we face, I have faith that we will meet the challenge in ways we can't forecast. I would never try to predict what might happen in the next 25 years. But I do believe the best investment strategy going forward is to keep in mind the lesson learned from that stranger back in 2000: Don't panic. Invest for the long term.
Daily Mirror
12-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Wales' Labour First Minister backs Wealth Tax and piles pressure on Keir Starmer
Eluned Morgan said those with the broadest shoulders pay more as ordinary people were desperately struggling with the cost of living Wales's First Minister has said a wealth tax is "not a bad idea" as Labour battles to balance the books after the disability benefit cuts climbdown. Eluned Morgan said those with the broadest shoulders pay more as ordinary people were desperately struggling with the cost of living. She also piled pressure on the Government to scrap the Tory two child benefit limit, saying: 'It's causing a lot of hardship in a lot of families'. It comes as the Welsh Labour leader seeks to pursue a "Red Welsh Way", drawing a dividing line between Cardiff Bay and Westminster. Ms Morgan compares the relationship to the hit show Gavin and Stacey - and the cultural differences between Essex and Barry, in south Wales. Speaking to the Sunday Mirror in Newport, South Wales, she said: "I'm not going to change my position just because my family is now in power." The Welsh Labour leader previously challenged Keir Starmer over cuts to the winter fuel allowance and disability benefits, which had provoked fury on the doorstep in Wales. Both have now been all but scrapped, leaving Chancellor Rachel Reeves with a battle to find more than £5billion to make up the shortfall. Speculation is mounting that she could be forced to put up taxes at the Budget in the autumn. However the Prime Minister has insisted the manifesto pledge to protect working from hikes to VAT, income tax and national insurance remains. Last weekend, former Labour leader Lord Kinnock suggested slapping a 2% tax on assets valued above £10million would bring in up to £11billion a year. Asked about the calls, Ms Morgan said: "I think that people with the broadest shoulders should carry more of the burden.' This sort of tax on the mega-rich would not hit many people in Wales, she said, but she said ordinary people were really struggling with the cost of living. She said: "What I get is what Keir Starmer and Rachel (Reeves) are trying to do, which is to make sure you have a stable framework, so that people invest and create jobs. "If you don't have that, you can't pay for the services which are the things we really care about." She said there were "other options available" to raise vital funds without destabilising the economy and dissuading investors. She added: "I don't know all of the levers available, but the idea of taxing people earning over £10 million is not a bad idea." Downing Street has refused to rule out a tax on the mega-rich, saying it doesn't discuss tax policy outside of a Budget. But the PM's spokesman said: 'The Government is committed to the wealthiest in society paying their share in tax.' Ms Morgan was clear that she wants the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped - another area of tension between the Government and backbenchers. She said: "We've been consistent in our view. This is a Tory policy that they brought in, and we're not going to change our view because there's a Labour government in. "We've always said that we think this is not a good policy approach, and it is causing a lot of hardship in a lot of families. She added: "A lot of the things that I've said that sometimes upset people at the UK government level are things that we've been saying for years. "I'm not going to change my position just because my family is now in power." She added: "When it comes to where they should go next, I think it is important that they look at all the options, but try and make sure it's based on Labour values." Ms Morgan, who has been First Minister for just under a year, has been increasingly critical of the UK Government in recent months as Welsh Labour braces for a difficult Senedd election next year. She said: "The Labour Party is a broad church, in the same way as in Gavin and Stacey you had people from really different parts of the UK having completely different perspectives on the world. "That's ok, it's not a problem. You have to adjust and be respectful... I don't think there's a contradiction when it comes to us having a different position because we are adjusting to different circumstances." She also praised the Labour Government for offering a significant uplift in funding to Wales, allowing her to divert cash into the NHS. 'Things that were really challenged for us like really long waiting lists in the NHS, we've now had the money to bring that down, so we've seen an 86% reduction in the longest waiting lists since the peak of the pandemic. "That was really difficult as we just didn't have the money to do it before.' The NHS came up repeatedly as she walked around Newport on a sunny Thursday to meet voters. One woman confronted her in a panic about losing her Personal Independence Payment (PIP), before being relieved to be told that the decision had been shelved. Ms Morgan said: "The noise I heard today was reasonably positive… That's not what it felt like a year ago. "I think people are starting to see the difference."
