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Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won an overwhelming majority in Bangladesh’s parliamentary election, giving her party – the Awami League – a fourth consecutive term.

After an election campaign fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, it was widely reported that Ms Hasina’s party won 216 seats out of 299.

The win also means the 76-year-old has become the country’s longest-serving leader.

A final official declaration on the outcome of the vote is expected by the Election Commission on Monday.

Around 40% voted out of a total 120 million people who were eligible, according to Kazi Habibul Awal, chief election commissioner.

Bangladeshi polling officials count votes after the voting ended at a polling station in Munshiganj, outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Bangladeshi polling officials count votes. Pic: AP

Officials prepare to count votes of parliamentary election in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Jan 7, 2024. Voters in Bangladesh cast ballots Sunday in the election fraught with violence and a boycott from the main opposition party, paving the way for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League to seize a fourth consecutive term. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
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Pic: AP

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia refused to accept the election outcome.

The party accuses Ms Hasina of turning Bangladesh into a one-party state and muzzling dissent and civil society.

Rivalry-fuelled violence

Both Ms Hasina and Ms Zia have run the country alternately for many years, their rivalry fuelling violence and a polarised political landscape in the country.

Bangladesh policemen stand guard outside Baitul Mukarram mosque for possible protests ahead of Sunday's parliamentary elections, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. Bangladesh's main opposition party called for general strikes on the weekend of the country's parliamentary election, urging voters to join its boycott. This year, ballot stations are opening amid an increasingly polarized political culture led by two powerful women; current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader and former premier Khaleda Zia. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
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Bangladeshi policemen stand guard before the election. Pic: AP

In the build-up to the election, there were at least 18 arson attacks, including one on a train on Friday night that resulted in four deaths.

Seven men belonging to the BNP and its youth wing were arrested for their alleged involvement in the train attack.

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Moments after fire breaks out on train

The party deny any role in the attack.

Opposition leader Ms Zia has been under house arrest for over two years on corruption charges, which she denies.

Her party claimed around 20,000 of its members had been jailed ahead of the election, a figure which the government disputed.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia waves to activists as she arrives for a rally in Dhaka in this file picture taken January 20, 2014. A Bangladesh court issued an arrest warrant on March 30, 2016 for former prime minister and opposition leader Zia over a deadly firebombing attack last year, a prosecutor said. REUTERS/Andrew Biraj/Files
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Khaleda Zia has been under house arrest for over two years

The government went on to defend the election, saying 27 parties and 404 independent candidates participated.

But with scores of candidates from the Awami League running as independents and mostly smaller opposition parties in the race, analysts say Ms Hasina’s win was near inevitable.

Independent candidates took 52 parliamentary seats, while the Jatiya Party – the third largest in the country – took 11, according to TV stations.

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Gazan doctor being held in ‘inhumane’ conditions in Israeli jail, says lawyer

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Gazan doctor being held in 'inhumane' conditions in Israeli jail, says lawyer

The lawyer of a high-profile Gazan doctor detained by Israel since last December has spoken of her shock over his condition after being allowed a rare visit to see him in jail.

Ghaid Qassem has told Sky News that Dr Hussam Abu Safiya – the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza – survives on very little food, including two spoonfuls of rice a day and has lost a third of his body weight. She said he has been subjected to severe beatings.

“As a young woman, seeing an older man – a respected doctor like Hussam Abu Safiya – broken in front of me, degraded, surrounded by prison guards, in the worst possible condition, how am I supposed to feel?” she said.

“The conditions of his detention are extremely harsh, inhumane, with continuous assaults.

“This is the sixth time he has been brutally attacked.

“The most recent incident was on 24 June 24, which coincided with the end of Israel‘s war with Iran and the strike on Soroka Hospital in Beersheba [Israel].

“It seems the prison authorities decided to take revenge. They raided Abu Safiya’s cell and began assaulting him.

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“He was beaten, sustaining bruises on his head, neck, and back. Afterwards, he requested medical treatment because he felt abnormal heartbeats, but his request was denied.”

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya with his colleagues. Pic: Dr Eid Sabbah, Kamal Adwan Hospital
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Dr Hussam Abu Safiya (centre) with his colleagues. Pic: Dr Eid Sabbah, Kamal Adwan Hospital

Ghaid Qassem, lawyer for Dr Hussam Abu Safiya
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Ghaid Qassem

It is thought that since his detention Dr Abu Safiya has been held at a number of Israeli jails.

His lawyer said she was allowed access to meet with him at Ofer prison, near Jerusalem.

Ms Qassem said there was no proper healthcare or hygiene and it is claimed the paediatrician is being held in an underground cell.

“They can’t shower, their clothes aren’t replaced, not even underwear,” she said. “Scabies is rampant, skin diseases are widespread and the most basic medical attention is only given when they see you’re on the verge of death.”

Dr Abu Safiya was last seen in Gaza, wearing his white doctor’s coat as he walked through the rubble outside his hospital towards an Israeli tank in December 2024.

This is believed to be one of the last photos taken of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya before he was detained, walking towards Israeli tanks
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This is believed to be one of the last sightings of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya before he was detained

Before then he had become a well-known voice and face of the Kamal Adwan hospital, sharing videos about the siege of the medical facility and explaining how staff were struggling to continue working under Israeli bombardment.

The hospital has since been forced to close down.

Oneg Ben Dror, from Physicians for Human Rights Israel, told Sky News they believe Dr Abu Safiya is one of more than a 100 medical professionals from Gaza currently being detained in Israeli jails.

Oneg Ben Dror, from Physicians for Human Rights Israel
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Oneg Ben Dror, from Physicians for Human Rights Israel

She said: “We know that more than 250 health care workers were arrested since the start of the war on Gaza.

“Part of them were released, and more than 100 are still detained. We have their names, and we managed to visit dozens of them while in detention.

“All those we met weren’t charged officially with any offence.

“We asked them about the interrogation and all of them said the questions they were asked weren’t about them or a specific offence.

“It was more information gathering about their workplace and people they knew and this is against international law arresting them while doing their job and holding them for intelligence gathering and as bargaining chips for a potential deal.”

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Doctors on the frontline

A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service (IPS) said: “All prisoners are detained according to the law. All basic rights required are fully applied by professionally trained prison guards.

“We are not aware of the claims you described, and as far as we know, no such events have occurred under IPS responsibility.

“Nonetheless, prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”

Dr Abu Safiya’s colleague, Dr Eid Sabbah, head of the nursing department at Kamal Adwan Hospital, told Sky News more than 30 medical staff from the hospital have been killed during the conflict.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya with his colleagues. Pic: Dr Eid Sabbah, Kamal Adwan Hospital
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Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and Dr Eid Sabbah, worked together in Gaza. Pic: Dr Eid Sabbah, Kamal Adwan Hospital

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He said: “We pray to God to give Dr Abu Safiya strength, to ease his suffering soon, and to see him free – just like the rest of our people, our patients, our wounded, and all the doctors who were detained from this hospital.

“He is in a very difficult situation. The news we are hearing is troubling and far from reassuring.

“He was the kind of doctor who took bold stands for his colleague. At the same time, he never abandoned his patients, even under extreme pressure.

“Despite calls urging him to evacuate the hospital for his own safety, he refused to leave. He stayed by his patients’ sides, fully committed to serving them – especially the children, the elderly, the women, and the injured.”

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Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, charity says – as UK promises £40m in aid

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Gaza food situation 'worst it's ever been', charity says – as UK promises £40m in aid

An aid worker in the central Gaza Strip has told Sky News the food situation in the enclave is “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it’s ever been”.

Her comments to Sky’s chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh international outcry over Israel’s restrictions on aid, as the UK has joined together with 24 other countries to say: “The war in Gaza must end now.”

Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, is in Deir al Balah, a city in central Gaza where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.

Middle East latest: Key points from UK statement on Gaza

She said: “One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.

“There is no food for their children, it’s absolutely desperate here.”

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Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. REUTERS
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Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen. Pic: Reuters

“The markets are empty,” she said. “People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.

“My team have said to me, ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day.”

Israel launched a ground assault on Deir al Balah on Monday morning, another charity said earlier.

Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah.
Pic: Reuters
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Smoke rises during strikes amid the Israeli operation in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters

Ms Cummings’s comments came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.

The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” it said.

The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Lammy promises £40m for Gaza aid

Foreign Secretary David Lammy later promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

He told MPs: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.

“Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.”

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Lammy: ‘There must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state’

Addressing the foreign secretaries’ joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock – who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza – told Sky News: “While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.

“In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.”

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“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.

“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.

“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve.”

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

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

The Israeli military has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

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Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh – at least 19 people dead

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Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh - at least 19 people dead

At least 19 people have died after a Bangladesh air force plane crashed into a college campus, the military said.

The aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, in the northern area of the capital Dhaka, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

The pilot was one of the people killed, and, according to the military, 164 were injured in the incident.

The Bangladesh military’s public relations department added that the aircraft was an F-7 BGI, and had taken off at 1.06pm local time before crashing shortly after.

Video shows fire and smoke rising from the crash site, with hundreds looking on.

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The wreckage of an air force training aircraft after it crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
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Pics: Reuters

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo said that most of the injured were students with burn injuries.

Firefighters and volunteers work after an air force training aircraft crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
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Pics: Reuters

Citing the duty officer at the fire service control room, Prothom Alo also reported that the plane had crashed on the roof of the college canteen.

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Rafiqa Taha, a 16-year-old student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told the Associated Press that the school has around 2,000 students.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” she added. “My God! It’s my school.”

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