Sophisticated drones sending “overwhelming amounts” of drugs and weapons into prisons represent a threat to national security, according to an annual inspection report by the prisons watchdog.

HMP chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor has warned criminal gangs are targeting jails and making huge profits selling contraband to a “vulnerable and bored” prison population.

The watchdog boss reiterated his concerns about drones making regular deliveries to two Category A jails, HMP Long Lartin and HMP Manchester, which hold “the most dangerous men in the country”, including terrorists.

Mr Taylor said “the police and prison service have in effect ceded the airspace” above these two high-security prisons, which he said was compromising the “safety of staff, prisoners, and ultimately that of the public”.

“The possibility now whereby we’re seeing packages of up to 10kg brought in by serious organised crime means that in some prisons there is now a menu of drugs available,” he said. “Anything from steroids to cannabis, to things like spice and cocaine.”

“Drone technology is moving fast… there is a level of risk that’s posed by drones that I think is different from what we’ve seen in the past,” warned the chief inspector – who also said there’s a “theoretical risk” that a prisoner could escape by being carried out of a jail by a drone.

He urged the prison service to “get a grip” of the issue, stating: “We’d like to see the government, security services, coming together, using technology, using intelligence, so that this risk doesn’t materialise.”

The report makes clear that physical security – such as netting, windows and CCTV – is “inadequate” in some jails, including Manchester, with “inexperienced staff” being “manipulated”.

Mr Taylor said there are “basic” measures which could help prevent the use of drones, such as mowing the lawn, “so we don’t get packages disguised as things like astro turf”.

Responding to the report, the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) said: “The ready access to drugs is deeply worrying and is undermining efforts to create places of rehabilitation.”

Mr Taylor’s report found that overcrowding continues to be what he described as a “major issue”, with increasing levels of violence against staff and between prisoners, combined with a lack of purposeful activity.

Some 20% of adult men responding to prisoner surveys said they felt unsafe at the time of the inspection, increasing to 30% in the high security estate.

Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This report is a checklist for all the reasons the government must prioritise reducing prison numbers, urgently.

“Sentencing reform is essential, and sensible steps to reduce the prison population would save lives.”

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The report comes after the government pledged to accept most of the recommendations proposed in the independent review of sentencing policy, with the aim of freeing up around 9,500 spaces.

Those measures won’t come into effect until spring 2026.

Prisons Minister Lord Timpson said Mr Taylor’s findings show “the scale of the crisis” the government “inherited”, with “prisons dangerously full, rife with drugs and violence”.

He said: “After just 500 prison places added in 14 years, we’re building 14,000 extra – with 2,400 already delivered – and reforming sentencing to ensure we never run out of space again.

“We’re also investing £40m to bolster security, alongside stepping up cooperation with police to combat drones and stop the contraband which fuels violence behind bars.”

A UN expert has said some young soldiers in the Israeli Defence Forces are being left “psychologically broken” after “confront[ing] the reality among the rubble” when serving in Gaza.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was responding to a Sky News interview with an Israeli solider who described arbitrary killing of civilians in Gaza.

She told The World with Yalda Hakim that “many” of the young people fighting in Gaza are “haunted by what they have seen, what they have done”.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Ms Albanese said. “This is not a war, this is an assault against civilians and this is producing a fracture in many of them.

“As that soldier’s testimony reveals, especially the youngest among the soldiers have been convinced this is a form of patriotism, of defending Israel and Israeli society against this opaque but very hard felt enemy, which is Hamas.

“But the thing is that they’ve come to confront the reality among the rubble of Gaza.”

Being in Gaza is “probably this is the first time the Israeli soldiers are awakening to this,” she added. “And they don’t make sense of this because their attachment to being part of the IDF, which is embedded in their national ideology, is too strong.

“This is why they are psychologically broken.”

Jonathan Conricus, a former IDF spokesman who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he believes the Sky News interview with the former IDF solider “reflects one part of how ugly, difficult and horrible fighting in a densely populated, urban terrain is”.

“I think [the ex-soldier] is reflecting on how difficult it is to fight in such an area and what the challenges are on the battlefield,” he said.

‘An economy of genocide’

Ms Albanese, one of dozens of independent UN-mandated experts, also said her most recent report for the human rights council has identified “an economy of genocide” in Israel.

The system, she told Hakim, is made up of more than 60 private sector companies “that have become enmeshed in the economy of occupation […] that have Israel displace the Palestinians and replace them with settlers, settlements and infrastructure Israel runs.”

Israel has rejected allegations of genocide in Gaza, citing its right to defend itself after Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.

The companies named in Ms Albanese’s report are in, but not limited to, the financial sector, big tech and the military industry.

“These companies can be held responsible for being directed linked to, or contributing, or causing human rights impacts,” she said. “We’re not talking of human rights violations, we are talking of crimes.”

“Some of the companies have engaged in good faith, others have not,” Ms Albanese said.

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The companies she has named include American technology giant Palantir, which has issued a statement to Sky News.

It said it is “not true” that Palantir “is the (or a) developer of the ‘Gospel’ – the AI-assisted targeting software allegedly used by the IDF in Gaza, and that we are involved with the ‘Lavender’ database used by the IDF for targeting cross-referencing”.

“Both capabilities are independent of and pre-ate Palantir’s announced partnership with the Israeli Defence Ministry,” the statement added.

At least 104 people have died in the flash floods that have left a trail of destruction across Texas.

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office said the number of bodies found in the area had risen from 75 to 84 – including 56 adults and 28 children.

The have been seven fatalities in Travis County, six in Kendall County, four in Burnet County, two in Williamson County and one in Tom Green County.

Earlier, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that “the situation on the ground remains dangerous” and that there “could be additional public safety threats with additional incoming heavy rain”.

Latest updates – Texas floods

The floods that first struck on Friday have wreaked havoc and left people in a state of grief – with 27 of the confirmed deaths having taken place at a girls’ summer camp in Kerr County.

Among those killed at Camp Mystic were Renee Smajstrla and Sarah Marsh, both eight, Eloise Peck and Lila Bonner, both nine, and the camp’s director Richard Eastland.

A photo has now emerged showing the inside of the camp on Saturday after the waters hit.

At least 41 people are still missing in the state – including 10 girls from Camp Mystic.

In her news conference, Ms Leavitt criticised people who have claimed the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) have played a role in the worsening the disaster.

It comes after Texas officials criticised the NWS by claiming it failed to warn the public about the impending danger.

Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Commerce’s acting inspector general on Monday to probe whether staffing vacancies at the NWS’s San Antonio office contributed to “delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy” in forecasting the flooding.

The NWS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr Schumer’s letter, but earlier defended its forecasting and emergency management.

Ms Leavitt has told reporters that claims Mr Trump was responsible for any issues related to the flash floods response were “depraved and despicable”.

“It is not [a political game], it is a national tragedy,” she said.

The press secretary also claimed, in relation to some NWS offices being reportedly understaffed, that one place actually had “too many people”.

“Any person who has deliberately lied about the facts around the catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed,” she said.

She also said that Mr Trump was going to visit Texas “later in the week”.

Previously, Mr Trump said it was likely he would visit on Friday.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz spoke at a news conference and said: “Texas is grieving right now, the pain, the shock of what has transpired these last few days has broken the heart of our state.

“Those numbers [the number of dead] are continuing to go up… that’s every parent’s nightmare, every mum and dad.”

He said he had picked up his own daughter from a camp in the area last week.

Mr Cruz added: “You know what I’d do? What I did when this happened? Just go hug your kids.

“Because I’ve got to tell you, I hugged my girls with tears in my eyes.”

Dalton Rice, the city manager of Kerrville in Kerr County, was asked whether evacuation warnings could have been issued earlier.

He said: “It’s very tough to make those calls because we also don’t want to cry wolf.

“You know, we want to make sure that we activated [it] at the right time.”

He added: “We had first responders getting swept away, responding to the first areas of rainfall. That’s how quick it happened.

“They were driving to these areas and one of them got swept off the road.”