The government has again delayed making a decision on whether the Chinese super embassy can go ahead.

New Housing Secretary Steve Reed, who took over from Angela Rayner, was due to approve or deny Beijing’s application for a 600,000 sq ft embassy near the Tower of London next Tuesday.

However, the decision has been delayed to 10 December, “given the detailed nature” of the planning application, and the need to give parties sufficient opportunity to respond”, the prime minister’s spokesman confirmed.

He added that the new deadline is “not legally binding”.

Politics latest: Senior MP hits back at ‘patronising’ CPS lawyers

The spokesman denied the postponement was politically influenced and said it was “very much bound by the quasi-judicial” nature of planning law.

The delay comes the day after the government published witness statements it provided to prosecutors in the China spy trial that collapsed, prompting a blame game over whose fault it was that it dropped.

A decision had already been delayed from 9 September to 21 October after China submitted plans with large greyed-out sections, which said: “Redacted for security reasons.”

Explainer: Everything we know about China’s new ‘super embassy’

What are the concerns about the embassy?

It has become controversial due to concerns about it being turned into a Chinese spy hub for Europe and the fact highly sensitive financial cables run beneath it to the City of London and Canary Wharf.

The decision to delay again was made after the national security strategy committee wrote to Mr Reed on Monday saying that approving the embassy at its proposed site was “not in the UK’s long-term interest”.

Committee chairman Matt Western, a Labour MP, said in the letter the location presents “eavesdropping risks in peacetime and sabotage risks in a crisis”.

Read more:
MI5 boss says China plot disrupted in past week
The Chinese exiles with £100k bounties on their heads
Three key questions about China spy case

Tower Hamlets Council rejected China’s initial planning application in 2022 to turn Royal Mint Court, where British coins were minted until 1975, into the largest embassy in Europe over security concerns and opposition from residents.

Beijing did not appeal the decision after making it clear it wanted Conservative ministers to give assurances they would back a resubmitted application – but the then-Tory government refused.

Eleven days after Labour won the election last July, the application was resubmitted in nearly exactly the same form, and was soon “called in” by Ms Rayner for central government to decide.

Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly accused the government of having “actively sought to silence the warnings” about the threats to national security from the embassy.

“It is essential the planning review has access to the full unredacted drawings for the Chinese embassy, and that the UK security agencies are able to submit evidence in private, using established processes,” he said.

“If Keir Starmer had any backbone, he would ensure his government threw out this sinister application – as Ireland and Australia did when faced with similar embassy development proposals from Russia.”

What has China said about the concerns?

In August, the Chinese embassy in the UK said the planning and design was “of high quality” and the application had “followed the customary diplomatic practices, as well as necessary protocol and procedures”.

The embassy added that it is “an international obligation of the host country to provide support and facilitation for the construction of diplomatic premises”.

And it reminded the UK that London wants to knock down and rebuild the British embassy in Beijing, which is in a very poor condition.

In September, a Chinese embassy spokesperson told Sky News that claims the new embassy poses a potential security risk to the UK are “completely groundless and malicious slander, and we firmly oppose it”.

They added: “Anti-China forces are using security risks as an excuse to interfere with the British government’s consideration over this planning application. This is a despicable move that is unpopular and will not succeed.”

One week into the ceasefire, a new kind of violence is plaguing the Gaza Strip.

Public executions, arson attacks and gun battles have raised the spectre of a slide into civil chaos as Hamas battles armed groups it accuses of collaborating with Israel.

Experts say Hamas is attempting to reassert its authority following Israel’s withdrawal from parts of the Gaza Strip.

But members of three anti-Hamas militias, operating from areas still controlled by Israel, have told Sky News they have no intention of laying down their arms and plan to fight Hamas to the end.

The fighting has drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump, who posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them.”

Who are the Doghmosh clan?

On the night the ceasefire was agreed, Majed Doghmosh – not his real name – was sheltering in Gaza City’s abandoned Jordanian Hospital alongside his parents and six-year-old sister.

Like many residents of the surrounding Al Sabra neighbourhood, Majed belongs to the Doghmosh clan – an influential extended family which has long had a tense relationship with Hamas.

Many members of the clan had fled to the hospital two weeks earlier, after the Israeli forces entered Al Sabra.

When the ceasefire was announced, Majed says, “people began to rejoice that the war was over and life would return to normal.”

But as people were returning to their homes, a contingent from Gaza’s Hamas-led security forces arrived at the hospital. They said they were searching for collaborators.

‘They came with hundreds of people’

“We, as a family in general, have completely refused any cooperation with the occupation,” says Nizar Doghmosh, the family’s leader in Gaza.

“But the occupation managed to infiltrate one… weak, shallow-minded, foolish person.”

While in the Jordanian Hospital, Nizar says, this person recruited seven or eight others into an anti-Hamas militia.

Instead of handing themselves in, these men opened fire on the security forces, killing Mohammed Aqel – the son of senior Hamas commander Imad Aqel.

“Suddenly, we started hearing that Hamas wants to kill everyone who calls himself a Doghmosh,” Majed says.

“They came with hundreds of people, killing women, children and young people and burning down our homes.”

Majed fled, but left behind his parents and sister – who he says are still trapped and hiding in Al Sabra neighbourhood.

Palestinian journalist and social media influencer Saleh Al Ja’afari was killed on Sunday while reportedly covering the fighting in Al Sabra. It remains unclear who shot him.

Footage posted on Sunday shows a gun battle at a junction near the neighbourhood.

On Monday evening, footage emerged of a mass public execution at the same intersection.

“All they wanted were 6 or 7 people, and these people were killed,” says Basel Doghmosh – not his real name – who also managed to escape the fighting. “Now they are killing everyone.”

Speaking to Sky News in Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described these incidents as “efforts to maintain order in Gaza, not acts of revenge”.

“Hamas has not targeted any family,” he said.

“The occupation has formed armed militias loyal to it, and these militias are accused of high treason – the most severe charge in Palestinian revolutionary law.”

At least four anti-Hamas militias

Hamas has made a show of force in recent days, with its fighters appearing on street patrols and at hostage handover ceremonies across the Gaza Strip.

Amjad Iraqi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, says that Hamas’s “vicious” response to the Doghmosh clan is partly intended to deter other armed groups from challenging its authority.

Sky News has confirmed that at least four anti-Hamas militias are currently active within the Gaza Strip, all of them based in areas still under Israeli control – where Hamas is unable to operate freely.

Who is Yasser Abu Shabab?

The most influential is a former looting gang led by Yasser Abu Shabab, which controls territory along Gaza’s main route for transporting aid. The group claims that 1,500 people are living in their territory, including 500-700 fighters.

Abu Shabab’s militia maintains loose ties to the other groups, whose control of territory is much less clear.

Fighting shows need for multinational security force

Dominic Waghorn

International affairs editor

@DominicWaghorn

It is quite clear from the evidence Sky has gathered that Israel has pursued a policy of divide and rule in Gaza and is continuing to do so. It has armed and financed militia who are rivals to Hamas and is now allowing them to operate in areas under its control.

The security situation in Gaza would be bad enough without that kind of meddling. From the start of the ceasefire Hamas has clearly set out to reassert control as would be expected.

Its spokesman has told Sky News it is only reestablishing law and order and averting chaos. But it has never tolerated any groups threatening its grip on power in Gaza and is unlikely to start doing so now. From the video footage emerging from Gaza and eyewitnesses we have spoken to it is working hard on dominating the strip as it did before.

As the UN agency UNRWA told Sky, the last thing Gazans need right now is fighting between Palestinians. It threatens their lives and hampers the vital effort to get aid into Gaza.

Hamas is likely to prevail in a struggle with smaller more disparate groups. That will then raise questions for both Israel and the Trump peace plan.

The Netanyahu government promised Israelis total victory over Hamas. Hamas is far from dismantled even if it is unlikely to renew hostilities anytime soon.

Donald Trump has repeated his demand Hamas disarm. That will not happen, not least because it would leave them at the mercy of their enemies.

The best hope for the peace plan and for Gaza is the insertion of the multinational security force envisaged in the Trump plan. But that would appear to be months away and by then Hamas may be confident enough not to cooperate.

Members from three of the militias told Sky News they have no intention of laying down their arms, and intend to fight Hamas to the end.

Ashraf Al Mansi’s militia

The leader of the fourth group, Ashraf Al Mansi, posted a statement to social media on Tuesday warning Hamas against approaching areas under their control.

Al Mansi’s militia has established itself north of Gaza City.

Its headquarters are at an abandoned school more than 500 metres inside the Israeli zone of control.

Although the militia claims to control significant territory in northern Gaza, Sky News has not seen any evidence of their presence more than 200 metres from the school.

Where do the Halas militia operate?

Further south, to the east of Gaza City, gunfire could be heard on Tuesday as Hamas battled another militia, led by Rami Halas.

On Sunday, 12 October, Gaza’s Hamas-run interior ministry offered amnesty to any militia members not involved in killings, so long as they turned themselves in by 19 October. “Consider this a final warning,” the statement said.

Speaking to Sky News from his base in the Israeli-controlled zone, a member of the Halas militia says that his group has no plans to surrender.

“Hamas destroyed the Gaza Strip – it has become nothing but a pile of ashes and stones,” says Basel.

“We are not afraid of death as long as it is for the sake of liberating the Gaza Strip from their ignorance, backwardness, and destruction.”

Fighting could imperil planned aid surge

The growing violence comes as Palestinians continue to wait for a surge in aid promised under the ceasefire agreement.

Gaza City is currently experiencing famine, with the rest of the territory suffering from severe food shortages after months of Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.

Read more from Sky News:
Call for inter-Arab force to stop Hamas retaking Gaza
Will Trump stay the course over Gaza?
Analysis: There is a catch to Trump’s Gaza peace deal

Sam Rose, Gaza director of the UN refugee agency UNRWA, says that mounting an effective aid operation will require Israel to allow aid in at scale and to give aid groups the freedom to move across the Gaza Strip.

“But we also need to know that our trucks and staff are not at risk from fighting or looting by armed elements,” he adds.

Among those leading the looting of aid trucks in the past was Yasser Abu Shabab, whose group has transformed itself into the most influential of the four anti-Hamas militias identified by Sky News.

Last week, Sky News revealed that Israel is providing extensive support to the group, allowing them to smuggle cash, guns and cars into Gaza.

We also found that Abu Shabab’s militia has been receiving food aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a US- and Israeli-backed aid group.

Footage from the camp, verified by Sky News, shows large stocks of fresh produce.

In other videos, militia members can be seen showing off stacks of cash and smuggled valuables.

Israel accused of ‘divide and conquer’ strategy

The GHF told Sky News that “every Gazan deserves to be fed with dignity – including those in areas controlled by [Abu Shabab]”. The IDF declined to comment on Sky’s findings.

Crisis Group’s Amjad Iraqi says that, by supporting groups such as Abu Shabab’s, Israel has been engaging in a strategy of “divide and conquer”.

“What’s happening right now is really a direct consequence of an Israeli policy throughout much of the war, but especially since it broke the ceasefire in March, to essentially render Gaza ungovernable.”

“A power vacuum… is to Israel’s advantage because it weakens Hamas and it weakens Gazan society writ large,” he says.

Additional reporting by Sophia Massam and Freya Gibson.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

The Catholic Church has a “moral and spiritual obligation” to do more to help the victims of sexual abuse – and must take tougher action against their abusers, a Vatican report says.

The highly critical report from the Vatican’s child protection board faults Church leaders for not providing information to victims about the handling of their cases.

The report calls for the church to take tougher action on abusers, saying victims need reparations and tangible sanctions to heal.

“In many cases … victims/survivors report that the Church has responded with empty settlements, performative gestures, and a persistent refusal to engage with victims/survivors in good faith,” the report said.

The report also states that financial settlements should be paid to victims of abuse.

The new report is the second by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was founded over a decade ago, with the first annual report only issued last year.

The commission states that monetary reparations are needed to help victims recover from the trauma of their abuse, along with “tangible and commensurate” sanctions for abusers and their enablers.

Compiled with input from dozens of survivors of abuse, the report, issued five months into the papacy of Pope Leo XIV, states that the Church must implement “concrete measures of reparation”.

“The Church bears a moral and spiritual obligation to heal the deep wounds inflicted from sexual violence perpetrated, enabled, mishandled, or covered up by anyone holding a position of authority in the Church,” it states.

“The principles of justice and fraternal charity, to which every Christian is called, require not only an acknowledgement of responsibility, but also the implementation of concrete measures of reparation.”

The report covers 2024, a period before the new pope was elected after Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday.

Pope Leo has acknowledged that the abuse scandal remains a “crisis” for the Church – and that victims need more than just financial reparations to heal.

The commission was created by Pope Francis in 2014 to advise the church on best practices to prevent abuse.

However, it has encountered some resistance as it looks to confront the problem of abuse in the Church, and endorse victim-focused policies.

The 2024 report states that the Church’s way of handling abuse cases can itself be traumatising for victims.

“We must re-emphasise that the Church’s decades-long pattern of mishandling reports, including abandoning, ignoring, shaming, blaming, and stigmatising victims/survivors, perpetuates the trauma as an ongoing harm,” it states.

The commission is referencing the Church’s way of dealing with cases according to its in-house code, where the most severe punishment meted out to a serial abuser is dismissal.

Read more:
Pope Leo’s revealing birthday interview
We must say no to ‘war of words’ – Pope Leo

Victims also have no rights to information about their case other than learning the outcome.

The report calls for sanctions that are “tangible and commensurate with the severity of the crime” – and also “clear” communication of the reasons for a resignation or removal of a priest.