Police probe couple found dead at UK home with family dog

A husband and wife were found dead at their Wales home in mysterious circumstances by their distraught daughter.

Former rugby referee Steve Jefferies and wife Christine, who were described as “wonderful people” by their next door neighbour, suffered “serious wounds”, according to reports.

The discovery was made after neighbours raised concerns about not seeing them.

A police cordon remains in place at the property and South Wales Police have confirmed they are investigating “the sudden deaths of a couple”.

Police were called to the home in Morfa Crescent, Trowbridge at 14:50 BST Saturday after the couple’s daughter raised the alarm.

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, reported: “We knew something was wrong because we all look out for each other in this little block here.

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“We noticed something was strange [and] that the curtains hadn’t been opened and that was it. We managed to get hold of their daughter and she came and went in.”

A statement issued by South Wales Police confirmed two bodies has been found at the property, a 72-year-old woman and a 74-year-old man.

The force added: “A rifle has been recovered from the property. A dog was also found deceased at the address.”

Detective Chief Inspector Lianne Rees said: “We understand this incident has shocked and saddened the local community. Extensive enquiries are being conducted to establish the circumstances leading up to this incident.

“We are awaiting the results of post-mortem examinations which will confirm the cause of death.”

South Wales Police have confirmed the force is not actively seeking any other person in connection with the couple’s deaths.

According to residents, the couple had two adult children and Steve Jefferies was involved with the neighbourhood watch.

A neighbour reported: “My son was in the street when the emergency services arrived on Saturday afternoon, he said there were police everywhere but they got stood down when they realised the situation.”

Floral tributes from members of the community have already been left along the street close to the police cordon.

Police probe couple found dead at UK home with family dog

express.co.uk

Israel marks one year of Hamas attack as fighting rages

Israel has held ceremonies to remember the victims of the mass killings and abductions carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, against a backdrop of continuing fighting in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

A year on from the attack – that saw some 1,200 people killed and 251 taken hostage – Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to stop such an assault happening again, saying Israel’s armed forces were “changing the security reality” of the region.

Since 7 October, nearly 42,000 people have been killed during Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

As the day of commemorations unfolded, Israel said it had intercepted more than 100 rockets fired by Hezbollah in Lebanon as well as projectiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis and from Hamas in Gaza.

Overnight, rocket warning sirens continued to sound in northern Israel, and several more town were declared closed military zones, as Israel looks set to expand its ground offensive across the Lebanon border.

On Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Suhail Hussein Husseini, Hezbollah’s logistics commander, was killed in a “precise, intelligence-based strike in the area of Beirut” on Monday. Hezbollah has not commented.

Husseini was responsible for the budgeting and logistical management of Hezbollah’s most sensitive projects, including its war plans and other special operations, the IDF said.

The US has indicated that it supports targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon – but fears that what has been described as a limited operation by Israel could quickly turn into a larger-scale, prolonged conflict.

And as American and Israeli officials discuss Israel’s response to last week’s unprecedented Iranian missile attack, CIA director William Burns has warned that there is a “very real danger of a further regional escalation”.

Last October, gunmen from Hamas in Gaza broke through the border fence and rampaged through nearby Israeli villages, Kibbutzim, military posts and the Nova music festival.

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On Monday, families of the hundreds killed and dozens of people taken hostage at the festival gathered at the site early for the first memorial event of the day.

Holding pictures of loved ones they listened to the last track played at the festival before Israeli President Isaac Herzog led a minute’s silence at 06:29, the moment that the attack began.

In nearby communities also attacked by Hamas gunmen, smaller events were held.

Elsewhere, Netanyahu visited the Iron Sword memorial in Jerusalem for victims of the Hamas attacks, lighting a candle to “remember our fallen, our hostages”.

In Tel Aviv’s biggest park, Israeli families gathered for an event billed as the Bereaved Families Memorial Ceremony, which served as an alternative to the official government memorial ceremony.

Some of Israel’s most popular singers gave emotional performances, while images of victims flashed on the screens.

The stage was adorned with items symbolising the attacks including burnt and broken cars from the Nova music festival, and a child’s bicycle and swing set from the Be’eri kibbutz.

Outside Israel, US President Joe Biden joined other world leaders in condemning what the “unspeakable brutality” of the Hamas attacks a year ago.

He also expressed horror at the subsequent war, saying “far too many civilians had suffered, far too much”.

Mourners also gathered at vigils around the world including in Australia, South Africa, Germany and the US.

In the UK, Sir Keir Starmer told the House of Commons he supported Israel’s right to defend itself. But Britain’s prime minister insisted there was no military solution to the current crisis and appealed for all sides to “step back”.

However as the memorial services took place, the wider conflict in the region raged.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired more than 130 rockets across the border from Lebanon. Most were shot down, but some hit the cities of Haifa and Tiberius.

Earlier Hamas also launched rockets at Tel Aviv from Gaza. The army said ballistic missiles had been fired at Israel from Yemen but had been intercepted.

Through the day, Israel carried out multiple air strikes and several ground incursions in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said it was expanding operations against Hezbollah, warning residents in southern Lebanon to avoid using boats in the sea or rivers south of the Awali river.

Three weeks of intense Israeli strikes and other attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 1,400 people, and displaced another 1.2 million, according to Lebanese authorities.

Hezbollah – a Shia Islamist political, military and social organisation that wields considerable power in Lebanon – has remained defiant despite suffering a series of devastating blows in recent weeks, including the killing of its leader and most of its top military commanders.

On Monday, the group insisted it was “confident… in the ability of our resistance to oppose the Israeli aggression”.

Israel’s government – which designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation – has pledged to make it safe for tens of thousands of displaced residents to return to their homes near the Lebanese border after a year of cross-border fighting sparked by the Gaza war.

The hostilities have escalated steadily since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel on 8 October 2023, the day after its ally Hamas’s deadly attack on southern Israel.

Israel marks one year of Hamas attack as fighting rages

BBC

Israel bombards Gaza, southern Lebanon ahead of October 7 anniversary

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.

A year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.

Israel’s military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from “fallen projectiles” was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.

Israel bombards southern Beirut

Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.

A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel’s military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

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“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”

One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

The Israeli military is now setting up a forward operating base close to a UN peacekeeping mission on the border in southern Lebanon, a UN official told The Associated Press. The base puts peacekeepers at risk, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

UNIFIL, created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military’s request to vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.

New evacuation orders in northern Gaza

An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir Al-Balah. Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.

Israel’s military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has carried out several operations there only to see militants regroup. The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in Sunday’s fighting in northern Gaza.

Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.

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Frantic residents fled again. “Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.

The Civil Defense — first responders operating under the Hamas-run government — said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.

Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook an airstrike on his Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Al Jazeera reporter Anas Al-Sharif confirmed his death.

Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

UK advises against travel while France seeks partial arms embargo on Israel

The United Kingdom on Sunday advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Israel due to the violent clashes in the Mideast. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also advised against all travel in parts of northern and southern Israel, most of the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Last week the UK advised its citizens against all travel to Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a “disgrace.” Macron’s office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Netanyahu’s remarks “excessive.”

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Macron’s office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views.”

Israel bombards Gaza, southern Lebanon ahead of October 7 anniversary