Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
The town of Beit Lahia in besieged northern Gaza came under heavy attack by Israel's military on Tuesday, residents said, with at least 15 civilians killed by a drone strike and artillery fire, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
"The situation has been extremely dire since dawn, and the Israeli army has not stopped its attacks, not even for a minute. These assaults have resulted in dozens of martyrs lying in the streets, forcing the residents to bury them without shrouds in public roads,” Mohammed Al Maqadma, 26, told The National.
Beit Lahia, the nearby Jabalia refugee camp and other northern areas have been under siege for 18 days as the Israeli military carries out attacks that it says are aimed at Hamas fighters who have gathered there. Residents face acute shortages of essentials and are being ordered to leave their homes under threat of violence.
Abu Safia, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, described the dire conditions there. “We are under fire from all directions. People are terrified. The situation is catastrophic. They are killing people in the streets. We will not abandon Kamal Adwan Hospital, and we will not leave the injured behind."
Military drones dropped leaflets ordering Beit Lahia residents to leave, which read: "To all those in shelters and hospitals, you are in a dangerous combat zone. For your safety, move immediately towards the Indonesian Hospital via Al Awda Street and Beit Lahia Main Street. Any movement in another direction will put your life at risk."
But even those who obeyed the order reported coming under attack. Yasser Hamad, a father of 11, said his son Ahmed, who was about 20 years old, was killed by an Israeli drone as the family made the gruelling 10km trek to Gaza city.
"Ahmed was martyred instantly when a drone shot him in the head. We couldn’t retrieve his body because the army ordered us not to look right or left and to leave without carrying anything," Mr Hamad told The National.
"We left with heavy hearts, filled with anguish and immense sorrow because we had to leave a part of us behind, lying on the ground, unable to bury or shroud him,” he said.
“I wept bitterly over the helplessness we had reached. I remembered my son in every stage of his life and how I parted with him without a final embrace, without even being able to shroud or bury him.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN refugee for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said people in northern Gaza "are just waiting to die".
"Our staff report they cannot find food, water or medical care. The smell of death is everywhere as bodies are left lying on the roads or under the rubble. Missions to clear the bodies or provide humanitarian assistance are denied," Mr Lazzarini said in a post on X.
He pleaded for "an immediate truce, even if for few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area and reach safer places".
Asmahan Shatat, 42, said three of her nine children were injured after the family followed the military's orders and left the school at Jabalia camp, where they had been sheltering.
"We reached western Gaza with three of my children wounded after the army targeted us with shells, despite following the so-called safe route," she told The National.
“As soon as we moved, they fired a shell at us, killing and injuring several displaced people. The drone warned us not to move or look around.”
Fortunately, her children's wounds were not that serious. “By God’s grace, they could walk, and we eventually found a cart that took us to western Gaza."
Ms Shatat said her family has been forced to move seven times since the war began. "We don’t know when this brutal aggression against us will end. The Israeli army targets displaced people after specifying so-called safe routes for them. It’s a clear, systematic tactic aimed at killing Palestinians by any means," she said.
In southern Gaza, four Palestinians died and two were injured on Tuesday when Israel bombed a home and a gathering of people in the Khirbet Al Adas area, north of Rafah, Wafa reported.
The number of Palestinians killed in the war has risen to 42,718 after 115 more died during the 48-hour reporting period, the enclave's Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Another 487 people were wounded, taking the total to 100,282.
The war began after Hamas militants from Gaza killed about 1,200 people in raids on southern Israel on October 7 last year. About 250 people were taken back to Gaza as hostages, of whom about 100 remain in captivity, including about 30 who are believed to have died.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
Results
Ashraf Ghani 50.64 per cent
Abdullah Abdullah 39.52 per cent
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar 3.85 per cent
Rahmatullah Nabil 1.8 per cent
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
'Ashkal'
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Polarised public
31% in UK say BBC is biased to left-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is biased to right-wing views
19% in UK say BBC is not biased at all
Source: YouGov
