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Newly-released US government photographs show key moments inside the White House during the 2011 raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden.

The images show top officials shaking hands after learning bin Laden, who founded al Qaeda and masterminded the 9/11 attacks, was shot dead by a team of US Navy SEALS. They also show President Barack Obama calling other world leaders to tell them what had happened.

The photographs have been obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the Obama Presidential Library by The Washington Post.

The US news service obtained more than 900 photos taken by official White House images on 1 May 2011.

President Barack Obama, top of the table, is joined by members of his national security team including Vice President Joe Biden, top left, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, third from right. Pic: Obama Presidential Library

at t President Barack Obama, national security adviser Tom Donilon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.
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Barack Obama, top/centre, is joined by members of his national security team including then vice president Joe Biden, top left, and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, 3rd from right, before the raid began. Pic: Obama Presidential Library

At around 4pm, Mr Obama was in the Situation Room conference room with his national security team when he heard the voice of Admiral William McRaven, who was commanding the operation from Afghanistan.

The president saw a live video feed of the raid in a smaller anteroom and said “I need to watch this” before leaving the conference room.

Air Force Brigadier General Brad Webb offered him his seat in the anteroom but Mr Obama said “sit down” and pulled up a hardback chair.

Mr Obama with Air Force Brigadier General Brad Webb in the anteroom. Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Mr Obama with Air Force Brigadier General Brad Webb in the anteroom. Pic: Obama Presidential Library

Mr Obama’s national security team soon squeezed into the room with him to watch the live video feed.

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Pic: Obama Presidential Library

Minutes later Mr Obama and his team were told “Geronimo ID’d… Geronimo EKIA”.

Geronimo was the codename for bin Laden while “EKIA” stands for “enemy killed in action”.

After hearing those words, Mr Obama said: “We got him.”

The CIA and US military were later criticised for using the name of an Apache leader as a codename for the 9/11 mastermind.

Mr Obama shakes hands with his team before leaving the anteroom. Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Mr Obama shakes hands with his team, including then secretary of state Hillary Clinton, before leaving the anteroom. Pic: Obama Presidential Library

The national security team later reconvened in the Situation Room conference room, where Admiral McRaven told them he was looking at the body and it appeared to be bin Laden.

He asked a SEAL who was 6ft 2ins to lie next to the body to confirm it matched the Al Qaeda leader’s height of 6ft 4ins.

Mr Obama replied: “Seriously, Bill. … All that planning and you couldn’t bring a tape measure?”

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Pic: Obama Presidential Library

President Obama, who decided he would make the announcement of bin Laden’s death that night, then headed back to the White House to prepare for his speech.

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Pic: Obama Presidential Library

Mr Obama phoned former presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton to tell them of the raid’s success.

He also called British prime minister David Cameron and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari.

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Mr Obama speaks on the phone while his team makes last-minute changes to his speech
Image:
Mr Obama speaks on the phone while his team makes last-minute changes to his speech

At around 10.30pm local time that night, White House staff were making changes to the president’s remarks before his televised speech just over an hour later.

The president had reportedly said he wanted to strike an optimistic tone about how if “America actually sticks to something” it can “do really big things”.

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Pic: Obama Presidential Library

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen and vice president Joe Biden, who is now president of the United States, posed with rosary rings they had on their fingers during the raid.

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Mr Obama with Admiral Mike Mullen and then vice president Joe Biden. Pic: Obama Presidential Library

At around 11.42pm local time, Mr Obama gave a televised address which was broadcast all the world.

He began by saying: “Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world, the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children.”

Pic: Obama Presidential Library
Image:
Pic: Obama Presidential Library

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Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of ‘lying’ about starvation in Gaza

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Bob Geldof accuses Israeli authorities of 'lying' about starvation in Gaza

Bob Geldof has accused the Israeli authorities of “lying” about starvation in Gaza – after Israel’s government spokesperson claimed there was “no famine caused by Israel”.

Earlier this week, David Mencer claimed that Hamas “starves its own people” while on The News Hour with Mark Austin, denying that Israel was responsible for mass hunger in Gaza.

Appearing on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Geldof said the claims are false.

Follow latest: Gaza aid airdrops a ‘smokescreen’ and ‘distraction’, says UN agency chief

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Israel challenged on starvation in Gaza

Mr Phillips asked the Live Aid organiser: “The Israeli view is that there is no famine caused by Israel, there’s a manmade shortage, but it’s been engineered by Hamas.

“I guess the Israelis would say we don’t see much criticism from your side of Hamas.”

In response, Geldof said “that’s a false equivalence” and “the Israeli authorities are lying”.

The singer then added: “They’re lying. [Benjamin] Netanyahu lies, is a liar. The IDF are lying. They’re dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers.

“And while they arrive to accept the tiny amount of food that this sort of set up pantomime outfit, the Gaza Humanitarian Front, I would call it, as they dangle it, then they’re shot wantonly.

“This month, up to now, a thousand children or a thousand people have died of starvation. I’m really not interested in what either of these sides are saying.”

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Gaza: ‘This is man-made starvation’

In the interview with Mark Austin on 23 July, Mr Mencer added: “This suffering exists because Hamas made it so. Here are the facts. Aid is flowing, through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Millions of meals are being delivered directly to civilians.” He also claimed that since May more than 4,400 aid trucks had entered Gaza carrying supplies.

It comes after MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished.

The charity said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels, and said that at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks.

MSF then called the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

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Aid waiting to be distributed in Gaza

In a statement to Sky News, an Israeli security official said that “despite the false claims that are being spread, the State of Israel does not limit the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip”.

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It then blamed other groups for issues delivering aid. They said: “Over the past month, we have witnessed a significant decline in the collection of aid from the crossings into the Gaza Strip by international aid organisations.

“The delays in collection by the UN and international organisations harm the situation and the food security of Gaza’s residents.”

The IDF also told Sky News: “The IDF allows the American civilian organisation (GHF) to distribute aid to Gaza residents independently, and operates in proximity to the new distribution zones to enable the distribution alongside the continuation of IDF operational activities in the Gaza Strip.

“Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported, thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command and instructions were issued to forces in the field following lessons learned.

“The aforementioned incidents are under review by the competent authorities in the IDF.”

You can watch the full interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips at 8.30am tomorrow.

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

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25% of young children and pregnant women malnourished in Gaza, charity says, as PM vows to fly critical medical cases to UK

A charity has warned 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are now malnourished, with Sir Keir Starmer vowing to evacuate children who need “critical medical assistance” to the UK.

MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said Israel’s “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon” has reached unprecedented levels – with patients and healthcare workers both fighting to survive.

It claimed that, at one of its clinics in Gaza City, rates of severe malnutrition in children under five have trebled over the past two weeks – and described the lack of food and water on the ground as “unconscionable”.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

The charity also criticised the high number of fatalities seen at aid distribution sites, with one British surgeon accusing IDF soldiers of shooting civilians “almost like a game of target practice”.

MSF’s deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, Dr Mohammed Abu Mughaisib, said: “Those who go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distributions know that they have the same chance of receiving a sack of flour as they do of leaving with a bullet in their head.”

The UN also estimates that Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people seeking food – the majority near the militarised distribution sites of the US-backed aid distribution scheme run by the GHF.

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‘Many more deaths unless Israelis allow food in’

In a statement on Friday, the IDF had said it “categorically rejects the claims of intentional harm to civilians”, and reports of incidents at aid distribution sites were “under examination”.

The GHF has also previously disputed that these deaths were connected with its organisation’s operations, with director Johnnie Moore telling Sky News: “We just want to feed Gazans. That’s the only thing that we want to do.”

Israel says it has let enough food into Gaza and has accused the UN of failing to distribute it, in what the foreign ministry has labelled as “a deliberate ploy” to defame the country.

‘Humanitarian catastrophe must end’

In a video message posted on X late last night, Sir Keir Starmer condemned the scenes in Gaza as “appalling” and “unrelenting” – and said “the images of starvation and desperation are utterly horrifying”.

The prime minister added: “The denial of aid to children and babies is completely unjustifiable, just as the continued captivity of hostages is completely unjustifiable.

“Hundreds of civilians have been killed while seeking aid – children, killed, whilst collecting water. It is a humanitarian catastrophe, and it must end.”

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Israeli military show aid waiting inside Gaza

Sir Keir confirmed that the British government is now “accelerating efforts” to evacuate children from Gaza who need critical medical assistance, so they can be brought to the UK for specialist treatment.

Israel has now said that foreign countries will be able to airdrop aid into Gaza. While the PM says the UK will now “do everything we can” to get supplies in via this route, he said this decision has come “far too late”.

Read more:
WHO: Gaza faces ‘manmade’ starvation
UN: People in Gaza ‘walking corpses’

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Last year, the RAF dropped aid into Gaza, but humanitarian organisations warned it wasn’t enough and was potentially dangerous. In March 2024, five people were killed when an aid parachute failed and supplies fell on them.

For now, Sir Keir has rejected calls to follow French President Emmanuel Macron and recognise a Palestinian state despite more than 220 MPs signing a cross-party letter to demand he takes this step.

The prime minister is instead demanding a ceasefire and “lasting peace” – and says he will only consider an independent state as part of a negotiated peace deal.

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Israel allows foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza

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Israel allows foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza

Israel has said foreign countries can drop aid into Gaza from today.

A senior IDF official told Sky News on Friday: “Starting today, Israel will allow foreign countries to parachute aid into Gaza.

“Starting this afternoon, the WCK organisation began reactivating its kitchens.”

Humanitarian aid organisation World Central Kitchen paused its operation in Gaza in November after a number of its workers were killed in an Israeli airstrike last year.

Aid workers in Gaza – who help provide food, medicine and shelter for the millions displaced there – have been affected by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while waiting for food and aid.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

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