Israel-Hamas war: Border Force teams set up in Egypt to help citizens – if they can leave Gaza
Border Force teams are “prepared and ready” to evacuate British citizens trapped in Gaza.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Thursday border officials are pre-positioned in Egypt so that if the Rafah border crossing opens, “we’re ready to get them in and bring them back”.
Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, told Sky News on Friday morning this still needs to be negotiated but the border force teams were there “in preparation”.
She said: “We’ve been in intense discussions with partners in the region, but we want the Border Force to be there to be prepared and ready if and when we can get the hostages out.
“So it’s preparation so that we can be there, so we’ve got everything available if we can get them out.
“But right now we still need to agree that and it still needs to be facilitated.”
‘Calling for a pause’
Asked if she was optimistic the Rafah Crossing could open, she said: “We’re still in the same position, we’re calling for a pause to allow for humanitarian aid in and we’re calling for the safe passage for British national passport holders to get out.”
Mr Sunak said he was pushing for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid to reach Palestinians and also create a “safer environment” for UK citizens to leave the bombarded 25-mile strip.
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Plan is ‘to release all hostages’
“It is not something we can do immediately but when the moment arises, we’ll be ready to take it quickly,” he said during an event in central London about artificial intelligence.
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is the only border point in the territory not controlled by Israel.
Israel has only in recent days agreed to allow aid into Gaza through the crossing, having besieged the Hamas-ruled area to prevent essentials such as water, food and fuel from reaching more than two million Palestinians.
The border crossing into north-east Egypt is likely to be the main exit route for those trapped in Gaza but it is currently closed other than for the aid deliveries – with Cairo reportedly blaming Israeli bombings around the area for it not being open for foreign nationals to pass through.
Backing ceasefire could ‘cross a line’
The government is calling for “humanitarian pauses” in the fighting but has stopped short of backing a ceasefire.
Asked about the difference, Ms Keegan said this morning that “we don’t want to cross that line” of telling Israel it has “anything but the right to defend itself”.
Labour has backed this position despite dozens of its MPs calling for a ceasefire.
Shadow environment secretary Steve Reed has said he understands and empathises with Labour colleagues who disagree with the party’s stance.
However he told Sky News that if the attack Israel suffered had happened in the UK, “our state would have sought to defend ourselves to protect our citizens by dismantling the capability of a terrorist organisation that carried it out, that applies to Israel too, they have the right under international law to do that.”
Israel is conducting air strikes and raids on Gaza in its fightback against Hamas’s assault on October 7 that saw at least 1,400 people, mainly civilians, killed on Israeli soil and hundreds of people taken hostage.
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Gaza: A ‘pause’ for aid delivery?
Fewer than five Britons are believed to be among the hostages as officials fear that some of those missing have been killed.
However many more, including the parents-in-law of Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, are trapped in the territory.
Welfare benefits ‘without delay’
As well as stationing border force officials in Egypt, the government has also announced that British citizens fleeing the conflict will be exempt from residency tests and able to get easier access to benefits and other services after arriving in the UK.
Those fleeing the war in the wider region of Lebanon and the West Bank will also be able to claim universal credit, as well as disability and child benefits, “without delay”, and access social housing and housing assistance if needed.
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The government said it would also ensure that money paid under the victims of overseas terrorism compensation scheme would not be counted when working out entitlement to income-related benefits.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: “We’ve been working quickly to ensure British nationals arriving from Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Lebanon can receive the support and security they need during a time of unspeakable turmoil.
“As the UK continues to step up its response to the fast-moving circumstances in the region, the regulations which come into force today will speed up access to benefits, ensuring those eligible can access the help they need.”
The government said that where arrivals do not have immediate accommodation available, local authorities may provide emergency overnight accommodation before supporting people into more secure accommodation.
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Collecting bodies on donkey carts
Those who meet the exemption will be supported more quickly but it will not impact who local housing authorities should prioritise for social housing, the government said.
Birmingham band UB40 say the city’s striking bin workers and their union should “keep fighting” in their dispute over pay.
It comes as the government and the council urged them to accept a “fair and reasonable offer”.
“We’re fully on their side,” drummer Jimmy Brown told Sky News. “I think they shouldn’t give up, they should still be fighting.
“Working people shouldn’t have to take a reduction in their incomes, which is what we’re talking about here.
“We’re talking about people being paid less and it seems to me with prices going up, heating, buying food, inflation and rents going up then people need a decent wage to have a half decent life… keep going boys!”
Members of the Unite union in Birmingham earlier this month. Pic: PA
Workers joined picket lines again on Thursday, with some fearing they could be up to £600 a month worse off if they accept the terms.
“We have total utter support for the bin men and all trade unions,” said guitarist Robin Campbell.
“The other side is always going to say they’ve made a reasonable offer – the point is they’re the ones who’ve messed up, they’re the ones who’ve gone bankrupt, they’re the ones now trying to reduce the bin men’s wages.”
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Lead singer Matt Doyle told Sky News: “It’s a shame that what we’re seeing is all the images of rats and rubbish building up, that is going to happen inevitably, but we’ve just got to keep fighting through that.”
About 22,000 tonnes of rubbish accumulated on the city’s streets after a major incident was declared last month by Birmingham City Council.
Rubbish has blighted the city’s streets for weeks . Pic: PA
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Bin situation ‘pains me’ – council boss
On a visit to the city, local government minister Jim McMahon said the union and local authority should continue to meet in “good faith” and the government felt there was a deal that could be “marshalled around”.
He paid tribute to the “hundreds of workers” who have worked “around the clock” to clear the rubbish.
Read more:
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“As we stand here today, 85% of that accumulated waste has been cleared and the council have a plan in place now to make sure it doesn’t accumulate going forward,” said Mr McMahon.
Sky News understands talks are not set to resume until next week.
Trans women in British Transport Police custody will now be strip searched by male officers – not female – following Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling.
The force said it is introducing an “interim position” while it digests the Supreme Court’s decision that the definition of a “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
A British Transport Police (BTP) Authority spokesman told Sky News: “Under previous policy, we had advised that someone with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) may be searched in accordance with their acquired sex.
“However, as an interim position while we digest today’s judgment, we have advised our officers that any same sex searches in custody are to be undertaken in accordance with the biological birth sex of the detainee.”
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In September last year, BTP, which is responsible for policing the UK’s railways and similar transport systems, published its “position” on transgender and non-binary officers carrying out strip searches.
It said officers would “only be able to search persons of the same sex on their birth or gender recognition certificate (GRC).
Officers who identified as another gender but who did not have a GRC were not allowed to, but if a trans woman had a certificate, they could strip search a female detainee.
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Gender ruling – How it happened
Strip searches involve the removal of more than a jacket, outer coat, gloves, headwear and footwear.
They “expose buttocks, genitalia and (female) breasts”, the BTP guidance says.
The Sex Matters campaign applied for a judicial review of that guidance with the High Court in December.
It said the policy “puts detainees at risk of sexual harassment and sexual assault”, and said it was a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
Sex Matters said the policy “also puts female officers in a humiliating and dangerous position, as they may be pressured to search trans-identified men”.
Read more: NHS must stop trans people being allowed on single-sex wars
Campaigners celebrated outside the Supreme Court after Wednesday’s ruling. Pic: PA
One of the High Court judges who made Wednesday’s decision, Lord Hodge, said the ruling should not be read as “a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another”.
Government minister Karin Smyth told Sky News public bodies have been told to look at how equality laws are implemented following the ruling.
She said: “Obviously, public bodies have been asked to look at their own guidance.
“And we will do that very, very carefully.”
But she warned against public bodies making statements “that may alarm people”, telling them to take their time to look at their guidance.
Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), said the ruling means there is “no confusion” now.
She said the NHS will “have to change” its 2019 policy, which says transgender patients are entitled to be accommodated on single-sex wards matching how they identify.
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