A mother says she’s “living in a nightmare” as she waits to hear from her daughter and 10 family members who are trapped inside Gaza.
Lalah Ali Faten, from Manchester, told Sky News she last spoke to her 29-year-old daughter Zaynab Wandawi on the phone on Thursday night when she could hear “rocket fire”.
On Friday at 3pm UK time she received a WhatsApp message but hasn’t heard from her again after Israel cut communications to Gaza.
She told Sky News: “The evening before [Thursday] she called me at 10.30pm our time and she was saying goodnight to me, reassuring me that she was okay, but I could hear rockets going overhead.
Image: Zaynab Wandawi (right) and her mother Lalah Ali Faten
“She started to whisper and told me ‘mum I need to go now’ and that was the last time I heard her voice. I don’t know when I’m going to hear from her again.”
Zaynab travelled to Gaza with her in-law’s family to attend a wedding just days before the 7 October atrocity which reignited the brutal war.
For the last three weeks all 11 family members including a 13-year-old boy have been trying to leave Gaza and return to the UK.
Ms Ali Faten says it has been “harrowing and very traumatic” and she has her phone with her “all the time”.
Image: Zaynab Wandawi
She said: “I don’t know what’s happened to my daughter, I don’t know what’s happened to her husband or his family. Did they make it through the night? This is just a living nightmare.
“As a parent you always feel that you should be there for your children when they need you but in this instance to be completely helpless is very painful and you feel useless.”
The family, who were initially in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, were forced to evacuate following intense bombing.
They fled south to the Rafah border where they’ve been sheltering in a family member’s home.
From there, Zaynab shared a video with her family showing the destruction of properties from bombs behind her pleading for a ceasefire and to help her and her family return to the UK.
“Every single day we’re bombarded with hundreds of bombs, thousands of bombs have landed on houses and hospitals and schools and mosques,” she says in the video.
“Please help call for a ceasefire to stop the bombs, please no more bombs, no more children need to die.”
But Ms Ali Faten told Sky News there is some hope: “The vision of her returning back home is keeping me going.
“It’s the hope that makes me get out of bed in the morning and do what I need to do and just function and get through the day. It’s that hope that’s making me go on.”
British nationals in Gaza are being advised to register their presence on the Foreign Office’s travel advice page and contact the department if in need of help.
A man has died after suffering cardiac arrest onboard a boat attempting to reach the UK.
The vessel turned back towards Equihen beach on the French coast yesterday morning.
A nurse tried to resuscitate the man but was unsuccessful.
Image: Pic: PA
French authorities have now launched an investigation into the circumstances.
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, has criticised authorities on both sides of the Channel.
Jacob Burns said: “Yet again we have a tragedy in the Channel, that is the consequence of the deadly, costly and ineffective security policies implemented by the UK and France.”
Image: Pic: PA
Later on Saturday, a lifeboat carried migrants who have made the voyage into the Port of Dover.
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Photographs showed them huddled under blankets and orange life jackets on board.
“The opportunity of tomorrow and what’s on offer is the best thing in football,” the England captain said. “I think we don’t necessarily carry the weight of it and how much it means to people, but we’re aware of it because it means the same to us.”
So often they were only watching other nations making finals.
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England’s first was the men winning the 1966 World Cup.
Image: England manager Sarina Wiegman reacts to defeat against Spain at the Women’s World Cup final in 2023. Pic: Reuters
Image: Lauren James looks dejected after their World Cup defeat, but is confirmed fit for Sunday’s revenge match against Spain. Pic: Reuters
Now, in Basel, comes the chance for revenge against Spain – even though no one in the England camp is saying that, publicly at least, in Switzerland.
Especially knowing how challenging a task it is coming up again against Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putella – the recent winners of football’s biggest individual honours.
Image: England fans celebrating after England beat Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Image: Given England’s history against Spain, it could be a nerve-wracking time for England fans. File pic: Action Images/Reuters
But this is Spain’s first Euros final.
And there is some fear from the world champions at England’s grit and resolve to produce comebacks late in the quarter-finals and semi-finals – with 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang’s goals integral to the fightbacks.
Image: England celebrate their semi-final win against Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Image: Michelle Agyemang has propelled England to the Euro 2025 final with two vital goals. Pic: AP
Spain captain Irene Paredes reflected yesterday on how the Lionesses can flip a result late on.
But she was also discussing how their World Cup win was tarnished by the on-pitch kiss that led to former Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales being convicted of a sexual assault on striker Jenni Hermoso.
It sparked a wider clamour in Spain for improved rights and respect for women.
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Spain’s players struggle for respect
“Since then [2023] we took big steps forward,” Paredes said.
“I think this idea is disappearing from society. I still believe we have to continue opening doors… we’re a reference for boys and girls in society, but we still have things to do.”
It is a reminder that while tonight is about collecting silverware, both England and Spain know that emerging as champions can drive further growth in women’s football back home.
Amid it all, they’ll try to savour just what reaching a final means and how rare they are – until recently for English and Spanish women.
A woman who thought she was being injected with Botox was left unable to swallow and doctors thought she had suffered a stroke – after she contracted a life-threatening illness from a potentially illegal product.
Nicola Fairley is one of dozens of people who have developed botulism linked to unlicensed anti-wrinkle injections.
She had the procedure done with her regular beautician after winning a Facebook competition for three areas of “Botox”.
Image: Nicola Fairley
“Within two or three hours my forehead and the sides of my eyes had started to freeze,” Nicola says.
“At first I thought ‘amazing’, that’s what I wanted – then it just carried on.”
Nicola was eventually sent to A&E in Durham, where she met several other patients who all had similar symptoms.
Doctors were stumped. “They thought I’d had a stroke,” she says.
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“We all had problems with our eyes, some of us with our breathing. I couldn’t swallow – they put me on nil by mouth because they were worried I would choke in the waiting room.”
Image: Doctors were worried Nicola could choke after she was injected with a suspected illegal product
It turns out all of the patients had recently had anti-wrinkle injections containing botulinum toxin.
Health officials believe they were imported, illegal products.
Botulism – the disease they caused – is so rare many doctors never see it in their entire careers.
It can cause symptoms including slurred speech and breathing problems, and can be deadly.
The disease is so unusual, and so many cases were coming in, that doctors exhausted their stocks of anti-toxin and had to ask hospitals as far away as London to get more.
The UK Health Security Agency has so far confirmed 38 cases of botulism linked to cosmetic toxin injections, but Sky News has been told of several more.
The outbreak began in the North East but cases have now been seen in the East of England and East Midlands as well.
There are only a handful of legal botulinum toxin products in the UK – of which Botox is one.
But cosmetic treatments are largely unregulated, with anyone allowed to inject products like fillers and toxins without any medical training.
Cheap, illegal products imported from overseas are easily available.
Image: Dr Steven Land
‘It’s the Wild West’
Dr Steven Land runs Novellus Aesthetics clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked for decades as an emergency medicine doctor before moving into aesthetics.
He says he has been warning health officials of an outbreak for years.
“It’s the Wild West,” Dr Land told Sky News.
“Because anyone can do this, there is a lack of knowledge around what is legal, what’s not legal, what is okay to be injected.
“These illegal toxins could have 50 units, 5,000 units or rat poison – there could be anything in there.”