Warning: This article contains distressing content

Palestinian detainees released back to Gaza have told the BBC they were subjected to mistreatment and torture at the hands of Israeli military and prison staff, adding to reports of misconduct within Israel’s barracks and jails.

One man said he was attacked with chemicals and set alight. “I thrashed around like an animal in an attempt to put the fire out [on my body],” said Mohammad Abu Tawileh, a 36-year-old mechanic.

We have conducted in-depth interviews with five released detainees, all of whom were arrested in Gaza in the months after Hamas and other groups killed about 1,200 people in Israel and took 251 hostage. The men were held under Israel’s Unlawful Combatants Law, a measure by which people suspected of posing a security risk can be detained for an unspecified period without charge, as Israel set out to recover the hostages and dismantle the proscribed terror group.

The men say they were accused of having links with Hamas and questioned over the location of hostages and tunnels, but were not found to be involved in the 7 October 2023 attacks – a condition Israel had set for anyone released under the recent ceasefire deal.

Some of those freed under the deal were serving sentences for other serious crimes, including the killing of Israelis, but that was not the case for our interviewees. We also asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) if there were any convictions or accusations against the men but they did not respond to that question.

In the men’s testimony:

• They each describe being stripped, blindfolded, cuffed and beaten
• Some also say they were given electric shocks, menaced by dogs, and denied access to medical care
• Some say they witnessed the deaths of other detainees
• One says he witnessed sexual abuse
• Another says he had his head dunked in chemicals and his back set on fire

We have seen reports by a lawyer who visited two of the men in prison, and have spoken to medical staff who treated some of them on their return.

The BBC sent a lengthy right of reply letter to the IDF which laid out in detail the men’s allegations and their identities.

In its statement, the IDF did not respond to any of the specific allegations, but said it “completely rejects accusations of systematic abuse of detainees”.

It said some of the cases raised by the BBC would be “examined by the relevant authorities”. It added that others “were brought without sufficient detail, without any detail regarding the identity of the detainees, making them impossible to examine”.

It continued: “The IDF takes any… actions which contradict its values very seriously… Specific complaints about inappropriate behaviour by detention facility staff or insufficient conditions are forwarded for examination by the relevant authorities and are dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, disciplinary actions are taken against the staff members of the facility, and criminal investigations are opened.”

The IPS said it was not aware of any of the claims of abuse described in our investigation, in its prisons. “[A]s far as we know, no such events have occurred under IPS responsibility,” it added.

Dr Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, co-director of the Centre for International Law at the University of Bristol, said the treatment the men described was “entirely inconsistent with both international law and Israeli law”, and in some cases would “meet the threshold of torture”.

“Under international law, the law of armed conflict requires you to treat all detainees humanely,” he said. “The obligations relating to the basic needs of detainees are unaffected by any alleged wrongdoing.”

The five Palestinians interviewed in depth were returned earlier this year under the ceasefire deal with Hamas – the group that led the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.

They were among about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees exchanged for 33 Israeli hostages, eight dead and 25 living, some of whom have described being abused, starved and threatened by their Hamas captors.

Female hostages previously released have detailed physical and sexual assaults in captivity.

Israel says forensic tests show some of the dead hostages returned in the ceasefire, including children, were killed by Hamas, though the group denies this.

The five released Palestinian detainees all described the same pattern – being arrested in Gaza, taken into Israel to be detained first in military barracks before being moved on to prison, and finally released back to Gaza months later.

They said they had been abused at every stage of the process.

More than a dozen other released detainees, whom the BBC spoke to more briefly as they arrived home in Gaza, also gave accounts of beatings, hunger and disease.

These, in turn, align with testimony given by others to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and the United Nations, which in July detailed reports from returning detainees that they had been stripped naked, deprived of food, sleep and water, subjected to electric shocks and burned with cigarettes, and had dogs set on them.

A further report by UN experts last month documented cases of rape and sexual assault, and said using this as a threat was “standard operating procedure” for the IDF. Israel responded to say it “categorically rejects the unfounded allegations”.

As Israel does not currently allow international journalists free access to Gaza, our interviews were conducted by phone call and text message, and also in person by our contracted freelancers in the territory.

All five men told us their abuse had begun at the moment of their arrest – when they said they had been stripped, blindfolded and beaten.

Mechanic Mohammad Abu Tawileh told us he had been tortured for days.

He was taken by soldiers to a building not far from the location of his arrest in March 2024, he said, and held in a room – the sole detainee there – for three days of interrogation by troops.

Warning: Graphic image below

Soldiers mixed chemicals used for cleaning into a pot, he told us, and dunked his head in them. The interrogators then punched him, he said, and he fell to the rubble-strewn floor, injuring his eye. He said they then covered his eye with a cloth, which he said “worsened his injury”.

They also set him alight, he told us.

“They used an air freshener with a lighter to set my back on fire. I thrashed around like an animal in an attempt to put the fire out. It spread from my neck down to my legs. Then, they repeatedly hit me with the bottoms of their rifles, and had sticks with them, which they used to hit and poke me on my sides,” he said.

They then “continued pouring acid on me. I spent around a day and a half being washed with [it],” he told us.

“They poured it on my head, and it dripped down my body while I was sitting on the chair.”

Eventually, he said, soldiers poured water on his body, and drove him into Israel where he received medical treatment in hospital, including skin grafts.

Most of his treatment, he said, took place at a field hospital at Sde Teiman barracks, an IDF base near Beersheba in southern Israel. He said he was cuffed naked to a bed and given a nappy instead of access to a toilet. Israeli doctors at this hospital have previously told the BBC shackling patients and forcing them to wear nappies is routine.

When the BBC interviewed Mr Abu Tawileh shortly after his release, his back was covered in red welts. The residual pain from his burns still woke him up, he said, and his vision had been affected.

The BBC was not able to speak to anyone who witnessed an attack on Mr Abu Tawileh, but a specialist eye doctor who treated him on his return to Gaza confirmed that he had suffered a chemical burn to the eye, damaging the skin around it. He also said Mr Abu Tawileh’s vision was weakening, due to either the chemicals or other trauma.

We showed images of his injuries and gave details of his testimony to several UK doctors, who said they appeared consistent with his account, though they noted there were limitations to what they could assess by looking at photos.

The BBC gave extensive details of this account to the IDF, giving it five days to investigate. It did not respond directly to Mr Abu Tawileh’s allegations but said it took any actions “which contradict its values very seriously”.

It said it would “examine” some of the cases, but did not respond to follow-up questions about whether this included Mr Abu Tawileh.

Others we interviewed also described abuse at the point of arrest.

“They cuffed us and hit us. No-one would give me a drop of water,” said Abdul Karim Mushtaha, a 33-year-old poultry slaughterhouse worker, who told us he was arrested in November 2023 at an Israeli checkpoint while following evacuation orders with his family. A report filed by a lawyer who later visited Mr Mushtaha noted he had been “subjected to severe beatings, humiliation, degradation and stripping during his arrest until he was transferred to prison”.

Two said they had then been left outside in the cold for hours, and two said Israeli soldiers stole their belongings and money.

The BBC gave details of the allegations of theft to the IDF, which described it as “contrary to the law and IDF values”. It said it would “thoroughly” examine the cases if more details were provided.

All our interviewees, including Mr Mushtaha, said they were transferred to the Israeli barracks of Sde Teiman, where Mr Abu Tawileh also said he received treatment in its field hospital.

One interviewee told us he was mistreated on the way there. He asked for his name not to be published for fear of reprisals, so we are calling him “Omar”.

He said Israeli soldiers stood and spat on him, and others with him, calling them “sons of pigs” and “sons of Sinwar” – referring to the Hamas leader and architect of the 7 October attacks, killed by Israel five months ago.

“They made us listen to a voice recording that said: ‘What you did to our children, we will do to your children’,” said the 33-year-old, who worked for an electrical cable company.

Sde Teiman has been the focus of previous serious complaints in the wake of the October 2023 attacks. Several soldiers stationed there were charged in February after they were filmed assaulting a detainee, resulting in his hospitalisation for a torn rectum and a punctured lung. In a separate case, a soldier at the base was sentenced after he admitted to the aggravated abuse of Palestinian detainees from Gaza.

Three of the men we spoke to alleged that dogs were used to intimidate detainees at Sde Teiman and other facilities.

“We would get beaten up when they took us from the barracks to the medical clinic or the interrogation room – they’d set [muzzled] dogs on us, tighten our cuffs,” said Mr Abu Tawileh who was held in general detention in the barracks, as well as being treated there.

The BBC asked the IDF to respond to allegations it frequently used dogs to intimidate and attack detainees. It said: “The use of dogs to harm detainees is prohibited.”

It also said there were “experienced terrorists considered to be very dangerous among the detainees held in IDF detention facilities” and that “in exceptional cases there is extended shackling during their detention”.

Several detainees said they had been forced to assume stress positions, including having their arms lifted above their heads for hours.

“We would be sitting on our knees from 5am until 10pm, when it was time to sleep,” said Mr Abu Tawileh.

Hamad al-Dahdouh, another interviewee, said beatings at the barracks “targeted our heads and sensitive areas like the eyes [and] ears”.

The 44-year-old, who worked as a farmer before the war, said he had suffered temporary back and ear damage as a result, and his rib cage had been fractured.

The IDF did not respond to this allegation.

Mr Dahdouh and some of the other released detainees said electric shocks were also used during interrogations or as punishment.

“The oppression units would bring dogs, sticks and stun guns, they would electrocute and beat us,” he said.

They would be subjected to beatings and intimidation every time they were moved, Mr Abu Tawileh added.

During these interrogations they had been accused of links with Hamas, the men added.

“Anyone who was imprisoned… they said: ‘You are a terrorist’,” said Mr Mushtaha. “They always tried to tell us that we had taken part in 7 October. They all had a grudge.

“I told them: ‘If I am Hamas or anyone else, would I be moving through the safe passage? Would I have listened to your calls to leave?'”

He said interrogations would go through the night.

“For three nights, I couldn’t sleep because they were torturing me. Our hands were tied and put above our heads for hours, and we weren’t wearing anything. Any time you would say ‘I’m cold’… they would fill a bucket with cold water, pour it on you and switch on the fan.”

Mr Dahdouh said their interrogators told them that whoever is from Gaza “is affiliated with terrorist groups”, and when detainees asked if they could challenge this in court they were told there was no time for that.

He said he was not given access to a lawyer. The IDF told the BBC: “Israeli law grants the right to judicial review in a civil district court, legal representation by an attorney, and the right of appeal to the Supreme Court.”

“Omar” said he was taken for three days of interrogation when he first arrived at Sde Teiman.

He said the detainees were dressed in thin overalls and held in a freezing room, with loud speakers playing Israeli music.

When the questioning was over, the men said they were led back to the barracks blindfolded.

“We didn’t know if night had come or morning had come. You don’t see the sun. You don’t see anything,” said Omar.

The IDF said it had “oversight mechanisms”, including closed-circuit cameras, “to ensure that detention facilities are managed in accordance with IDF orders and the law”.

Omar and Mr Mushtaha said they were then transferred to Ketziot prison, where they described a “welcoming ceremony” of beatings and other abuse.

Omar said he witnessed sexual assault at Ketziot.

“They took the clothes off some of the guys and would do shameful acts… They forced guys to perform sex acts on each other. I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn’t penetrative sex. He would tell one guy to suck another guy. It was obligatory.”

The BBC did not receive any other reports of this nature, but the Palestinian Prisoners Society, which tracks conditions of Palestinians in Israeli jails, described sexual abuse of detainees held in Ketziot as a “common occurrence”. This ranged from rape and sexual harassment to the beatings of genitals, it said.

The group said that while it had not received testimony of forced sexual acts between detainees, it had been told some had been made to look at each other naked and had been thrown on top of each other naked.

A report by B’Tselem has also gathered allegations of sexual violence, including from one prisoner who said guards attempted to rape him with a carrot.

The BBC put the allegation that prisoners were forced to perform sexual acts on each other to the Israel Prison Service (IPS). It replied that it was “not aware” of the sexual abuse claim or any of the other claims made about treatment and conditions at Ketziot and other prisons that the BBC had gathered.

It said: “IPS is a law enforcement organisation that operates according to the provisions of the law and under the supervision of the state comptroller and many other official critiques.

“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.”

Omar said they were also hit with batons at Ketziot prison.

“After we got tortured, I was in pain all night – from my back to my legs. The guys would carry me from my mattress to the toilet. My body, my back, my legs – my whole body was blue from beatings. For nearly two months I couldn’t move.”

Mr Mushtaha described having his head slammed into a door, and his genitals hit.

“They would strip us naked. They would Taser us. They would hit us in a sensitive place. They would tell us ‘We will castrate you’,” he said.

He said beatings were “meant to break your bones”, and that detainees would sometimes be grouped together and have hot water poured over them.

“The amount of torture was enormous,” he added.

Both he and Omar also described incidents of what they said amounted to medical negligence.

“My hands were all blisters and swollen,” said Mr Mushtaha.

“If people could have seen my legs they would have said they needed to be amputated from the inflammation… [Guards] would just tell me to wash my hands and legs with water and soap.

“But how was I meant to do this, when there was only water for one hour a day [between us], and as for soap, every week they would bring [only] a spoon of shampoo,” he added.

Mr Mushtaha said he was told by guards that: “As long as you have a pulse you are in good shape. As long as you are standing, you’re in good shape. When your pulse is gone, we will come to treat you.”

A report by a lawyer who visited both Mr Mushtaha and Omar in Ketziot last September said of Mr Mushtaha: “The prisoner, like the rest of the prisoners, suffers from pain due to boils on his hands, feet and buttocks, and there is no cleanliness and he is not provided with any kind of treatment.”

Mr Mushtaha also provided the BBC with a report compiled by a doctor in Gaza, which confirmed he was still infected with scabies on the day of his release.

Omar said detainees were beaten for requesting medical care.

The lawyer noted that Omar needed attention for “pimples spreading on the skin – in the groin and buttocks due to the harsh prison conditions” including lack of toiletries and polluted water. “The prisoner says that even when it is his turn to shower he tries to avoid it because the water… causes itching and inflammation.”

All the detainees added they had been given limited access to food and water while in detention at various facilities – several reported losing significant amounts of weight.

Omar said he lost 30kg (4st 10lb). The lawyer said Omar told him food was “almost non-existent” in the first few months, though conditions later “improved a little”.

Mr Mushtaha described food there being left outside their caged compounds for cats and birds to eat from first.

Another of our interviewees, Ahmed Abu Seif, said he was taken to a different prison – Megiddo, near the occupied West Bank, after being arrested on his 17th birthday.

He said Israeli authorities would regularly storm their cells there and spray them with tear gas.

“We would feel suffocated and unable to breathe well for four days after each tear gas attack,” according to Ahmed, who said he had been held in the prison’s youth wing.

“There was no consideration of us being children, they treated us like the militants of 7 October.”

During interrogations he had his nails pulled out, he told us. When the BBC filmed him the day after his release, he showed us how several of his toenails were still affected, as well as scars on his hands he said had been caused by handcuffs and dog scratches.

The IPS did not respond to this allegation.

Two of the men said they had witnessed the deaths of fellow detainees in Sde Teiman and Ketziot – one through beatings, including the use of dogs, and one through medical negligence.

The names and dates they gave of the incidents match media reports and accounts from human rights groups.

At least 63 Palestinian prisoners – 40 of them from Gaza – have died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023, the Palestinian Prisoners Society told the BBC.

The IPS did not respond to questions about deaths of Palestinians in custody, while the IDF said it was “aware of cases of detainee deaths, including those who were detained with pre-existing illness or injury resulting from combat”.

“According to procedures, an investigation is opened by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) into every detainee death,” it added.

The abuse continued right up to the moment they were freed in February, some of the men said.

“On the release day, they treated us brutally. They tightened the handcuffs and when they wanted to make us move they put our hands above our heads and pulled us,” Mr Mushtaha said.

“They said: ‘If you interact with Hamas or work with Hamas, you will be targeted.’ They said: ‘We will send a missile directly to you.'”

Ahmed, 17, also said conditions worsened after the ceasefire deal was signed in January. “The soldiers intensified the aggression against us knowing we were getting released soon.”

It was only once the detainees were transferred to the Red Cross bus for transportation back to Gaza that they felt “safe”, Omar said.

Footage showed some being returned in sweatshirts with the Star of David on them and the words: “We do not forget and we do not forgive” written in Arabic.

An official at Gaza’s European Hospital, which assessed the conditions of returned detainees, said skin conditions, including scabies, were common, and medics had observed many cases of “extreme emaciation and malnutrition” and “the physical effects of torture”.

Legal expert Dr Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne told us: “Certainly the use of chemicals to burn the detainee and submerge their head would meet the threshold of torture, as would the use of electric shocks, removal of toenails, and severe beatings. These, or comparable acts, have all been recognised to constitute torture by international bodies,” as have the use of stress positions and loud music.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which conducts interviews with returning detainees, said it could not comment on individuals’ conditions due to privacy concerns.

It added that it was eager to be granted access to those still detained – something which has not been allowed since the 7 October attacks.

“The ICRC remains deeply concerned about the wellbeing of detainees and emphasises the urgent need for it to resume visits to all places of detention. We continue to request access in bilateral and confidential dialogue with the parties,” it told the BBC.

Fifty-nine hostages are still being held in Gaza, 24 of whom are believed to be alive. The ICRC has never been granted access to them in their 18 months in captivity, and their loved ones have grave concerns over their wellbeing.

For many of the released Palestinian detainees, returning to Gaza was both a moment of celebration and of despair.

Mr Abu Tawileh said his family was shocked by his appearance when he was released, and added he was still affected by his experience.

“I am unable to do anything because of my injury, because my eye hurts, and it tears and feels itchy, and all of the burns on my body feels itchy as well. This is bothering me a lot,” he said.

Teenager Ahmed said he now wants to leave Gaza.

“I want to emigrate because of the things we saw in detention, and because of the mental torture of fearing the bombs falling on our heads. We wished for death but couldn’t find it.”

Jaguar Land Rover has announced it will “pause” all shipments to the US as it works to “address the new trading terms” after tariffs were imposed earlier this week.

A 25% levy on car imports came into force on Thursday, one of several measures announced by US President Donald Trump which have sent shockwaves through global supply chains.

The US is the second largest export market for the UK’s car industry, after the European Union.

In a statement, a Jaguar Land Rover spokesperson said the company was “taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid to longer-term plans”.

The Coventry-based car manufacturer – which also has sites in Solihull and Wolverhampton – said the US is an “important market for JLR’s luxury brands”.

More cars are exported to the US from the UK than any other goods. In a 12-month period up to the end of the third quarter of 2024, the trade was worth £8.3bn, according to the UK trade department.

An initial wave of tariffs on cars came into effect from 3 April, with import taxes on auto parts due to follow next month.

Car maker Nissan is thinking about moving some of its production of US-bound vehicles from Japan to the US as early as this summer, financial newspaper Nikkei has reported.

Earlier this week Nissan said it would keep two production shifts at its plant in Tennessee, after announcing plans to scale back operations there in January.

Meanwhile, carmaker Stellantis has said it will temporarily shut down its assembly plant in Windsor, a Canadian city on the US border, next week due to the new tariffs.

The United Auto Workers union – which represents those working in car manufacturing in the United States and southern Ontario, Canada – has applauded the introduction of tariffs, saying the move “signals a return to policies that prioritise the workers who build this country, rather than the greed of ruthless corporations”

A separate 10% tariff will be imposed on all other UK imports, with higher rates in place for some other major economies.

Global stock markets have incurred heavy losses in recent days as firms grapple with how to adapt to the new trading environment.

The FTSE 100 – which measures the performance of the 100 leading firms listed on the London Stock Exchange – plummeted by 4.9% on Friday, its steepest fall since the start of the pandemic.

Exchanges in Germany and France also saw similar declines.

Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK will take a calm approach to the trade tariffs and has ruled out “jumping into a trade war”.

He warned “the world as we knew it has gone” but said he was prepared to use industrial policy to “shelter British business from the storm”.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Sir Keir said he will continue to seek a trade deal with the US to avoid some tariffs, but mooted state intervention to protect the national interest.

Sir Keir is holding talks with other European leaders to discuss how to respond to the White House’s trade moves.

The prime minister spoke to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, the first of several discussions planned between Sir Keir and European leaders over the weekend.

Downing Street said Sir Keir and Macron had agreed “a trade war was in nobody’s interest” but “nothing should be off the table”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has been criticised by senior politicians across the political spectrum after she backed Israel’s decision to deny two UK Labour MPs entry to the country.

Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang say were on a trip to visit the occupied West Bank to “witness, first-hand, the situation” and were “astounded” after being stopped at the airport.

Badenoch told the BBC that Israel had a right to “control its borders”, adding it was “very significant” there were Labour MPs other countries did not want to let in.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said her comments were “disgraceful” while Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said she had shown “unbelievably poor judgement”.

Senior Tory MP Richard Fuller told Times Radio he thought MPs on officials trips should be “welcomed in any country”, adding “we should all be very worried” about democracy.

Yang, the MP for Earley and Woodley, and Mohamed, the MP for Sheffield Central, flew to Israel from London Luton Airport with two aides on Saturday afternoon.

The Israeli immigration authority said Interior Minister Moshe Arbel denied entry to all four passengers after they were questioned. It accused them of travelling to “document the security forces”.

Badenoch first made her comments when asked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show whether Israel was entitled to refuse entry to the MPs.

“Countries should be able to control their borders,” she said. “What I think is shocking is that we have MPs in Labour who other countries will not allow through, I think that’s very significant…

“I believe that the people who represent us in Parliament should be people who should be able to go anywhere in the world and people not be worried about what they’re going to do when they go into those countries.”

Badenoch said the reason given by the Israelis was that “they don’t believe that they’re going to comply with their laws” and “there are many people that we don’t allow into our country and I don’t think we should be setting precedents in a different way”.

Tagging a video of the Conservative leader’s comments on X, Lammy posted: “It’s disgraceful you are cheerleading another country for detaining and deporting two British MPs.

“Do you say the same about Tory MPs banned from China?

“This government will continue to stand up for the rights of our MPs to speak their mind, whatever their party.”

Reposting the criticism, Badenoch said: “Unlike China, Israel is our ally and a democracy. A good Foreign Sec would be able to make that distinction.

“Perhaps Labour MPs could put UK national interest first and do their jobs instead of campaigning for airports in Kashmir or promoting Hamas propaganda in parliament.”

Further criticism came from Davey on X, who posted: “Kemi Badenoch has once again shown unbelievably poor judgement by failing to back two British MPs denied entry to Israel.

“Yet another complete shocker.”

Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry told Sky News she was “completely gobsmacked” by Badenoch’s comments.

“This is nonsense,” the Labour MP said. “You have to stand up for what’s right, Kemi Badenoch, and you should stand in solidarity with other parliamentarians who were just going to Israel and the West Bank to find out what was going on.”

Badenoch was also contradicted by Tory MP Fuller, who told LBC that Conservative MPs had experienced similar issues in China and he wanted to support the right to travel to other countries.

“I want to support my colleagues,” said Fuller. “This isn’t a partisan thing, as a parliamentarian, we live in a difficult world at the moment.

“Democracies are under threat, we should support them in those circumstances, whether China, Israel, or anywhere…

“On this, my personal view is, parliamentarians should be allowed free passage to other countries, to our allies. We should look at that in a poor light. We should be supporting them.”

Fuller spoke about his boss again on Times Radio, saying he thought MPs on official trips are “going there to be better informed about the situation and then report back to their parliamentary colleagues about what they have found”.

“Democracy isn’t a guarantee in life,” he said. “Freedom isn’t guaranteed.”

Officers hunting for an XL Bully which escaped when police marksmen opened fire on the animal say they have contacted all veterinary practices in Sheffield in a bid to trace it.

Armed police tried to shoot the dog after it became “aggressive” while officers were investigating reports of a gun being fired at a property in Daniel Hill Street, in Hillfoot, on Thursday.

A police spokesperson said it was believed the animal had been injured before fleeing the scene.

The force has urged people not to approach the dog but to call 999 immediately, saying it has “the ability to show aggression and cause harm”.

A police spokesperson said: “Shooting a dog is never a decision taken lightly by our armed officers.

“During what was already a challenging incident, and the risk posed, the decision was made to shoot the dog to progress finding a suspect and weapon and protecting our communities.

“We now believe the dog to have suffered injuries and are urging the public to be vigilant for a loose XL Bully, but also one that may have succumbed to its injuries or been taken somewhere for treatment.

“We have contacted all veterinary practices as part of our enquiries but continue to ask anyone who has received a dog into their care [which] they believe could be this dog to come forward.

“If you see the dog, we continue to urge you not to approach it, as we believe it has the ability to show aggression and cause harm.”

South Yorkshire Police were called to Daniel Hill Street on Thursday night after shots were fired at a house and the windows of a car were smashed.

A few hours later, in the early hours of Friday, officers attended a crash involving a motorbike and a silver VW Golf in Liberty Drive, Stannington, after receiving reports shots had been fired at a man.

The force said 39-year-old Marcus Ned, from Sheffield, had since been charged in connection with the incidents and was due to appear at the city’s magistrates’ court on Monday.

He faces two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition without a certificate and attempt to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

A 39-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of possession of a firearm and a 36-year-old man arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle have been released on bail.

Meanwhile, police said a 35-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of affray and released on police bail.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones said the era of globalisation has “ended” following Donald Trump’s new tariffs.

It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer suggested in a Sunday Telegraph article he was about to announce state intervention to protect UK firms from the US president’s move. The UK was among nations hit with a 10% “baseline” import duty, and negotiations on a trade deal to reduce tariffs are continuing.

“Globalisation as we’ve known it for the last couple of decades has come to an end,” Jones added, in a BBC interview.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch disagreed that globalisation was over and pointed to “great” trading relationships with other countries.

There are fears of a global recession following President Trump’s “Liberation Day”, when he announced sweeping import taxes, sparking retaliatory action from countries including China and Canada.

The prime minister has said the government “will do everything necessary to protect Britain’s national interest” and is “ready to use industrial policy” to help shelter businesses, because “the world as we know it has gone”.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, Jones was asked whether globalisation – which has resulted in a boom in imports of cheap fashion, electrical goods and other products – was over.

“Yeah it’s ended, the prime minister said that himself this morning,” he said.

The change meant the UK had to “build out” relationships with allies around the world but also invest in the UK’s own economy, Jones said, denying ministers were “scrabbling” for solutions.

He insisted the government was “trying to get ahead of these challenges” , which he said were “why we have to invest in the domestic economy, both for UK businesses, but also our public services… which is why our plan for change is investing in the NHS and skills as well as industrial policy.”

Amid reports both elements of the spending review and the industrial strategy could now be brought forward from their expected June publication date, he said Labour had been working on the industrial strategy since it was in opposition.

Pressed on whether they would be brought forward, Jones deferred to Sir Keir’s announcement expected in the coming days and laughed when Laura Kuenssberg said “that sounds almost like a yes but you’re not allowed to say it to us this morning”.

The UK government is continuing its policy of not responding with counter-tariffs, as other countries have done, preferring a “calm” approach focused on a UK-US trade deal.

“We’re hoping to do a deal,” Jones said, adding on tariffs that “we have a better outcome than other comparable countries as a consequence of our diplomacy”.

The Liberal Democrats have called for MPs to be allowed to vote on any deal struck with Trump due to concerns about the possibility of changes to regulations around farming, online content and the digital services tax on US social media giants.

The party’s deputy leader Daisy Cooper said it would be “deeply undemocratic” to sideline Parliament on these “critical” issues.

She said: “Both Conservative and Labour MPs should commit now to voting down any Trump deal that sells out British farmers and their high food standards or waters down our online safety rules.”

Asked to rule out watering down the Online Safety Act, Labour’s Jone said protections for children are “non-negotiable” and committed to ensuring that social media platforms are “designed in a way that protects children from harm”.

Environment Secretary Steve Reed has previously said “we won’t undercut British farmers on welfare or environmental standards” in order to secure a US trade deal.

However, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has previously suggested the UK could change its taxes on big tech firms as part of a deal to overturn US tariffs, despite the digital services tax bringing in about £800m per year since its introduction in 2020.

Speaking on the Kuenssberg show, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch agreed that retaliatory tariffs were not a solution because they would only harm UK consumers.

However, she told Kuenssberg she did not agree globalisation was over, insisting what was happening was only “fragmentation” and that “we still have a great trading relationship with many other countries”.

Badenoch added the Labour government should pick up the deal former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had tried to negotiate with Trump during his previous presidency, which ended in 2020.

Kuenssberg asked whether the deal was “oven-ready”, as she had claimed several times, and Badenoch suggested the government “should “pick up where we left off”, following former president Joe Biden’s decision to dump the deal.

“We had six rounds of negotiations where there were some decisions that were concluded and they can pick that up and take it,” she said.

“The most important thing is removing tariffs – the tariffs are going to be disruptive for our businesses…

“That is going to make a whole mess of the tax take that [chancellor] Rachel Reeves thought she was going to be getting in her budget.

“We are in a worse place now because of the decisions that Labour has made and people out there are suffering.”

People and properties have been evacuated as a wildfire has spread over a large area of forest in Galloway, in the south west of Scotland.

Emergency services were initially called to Glen Trool at about 23:50 on Friday, with police urging people to avoid the area.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said two crews remained on the scene on Sunday morning, with helicopters continuing to water bomb the area.

Rising temperatures across the UK have led to wildfire warnings being put in place for several parts of the country.

Firefighters are also tackling another wild blaze in the west Highlands near Ullapool.

Police have closed a stretch of the A835 between the Achiltibuie junction and the junction at Badagyle.

A spokesperson for the SFRS said the fire in Galloway had now moved on to the nearby Bennan and Lamachan Hills.

Police previously warned of a risk the flames could spread to the Loch Doon area of East Ayrshire after a change in wind direction.

People living in the area, including near Loch Doon, have been asked to keep windows and doors closed.

A helicopter was dispatched to assess damage to the area from above on Sunday morning.

Stewart Gibson, team leader at Galloway Mountain Rescue, said at one point fire crews had four helicopters dropping water on the flames from above, with the fire front “two to three miles wide” at one stage.

He said five groups of walkers were located on the hills on Friday night, but were safely moved away from the area.

Team members were acting as spotters for the police overnight on Sunday, but were stood down at about 04:00.

He urged anyone heading to the hills over the next week to take care and avoid lighting camp fires or naked flames.

Mr Gibson told BBC Radio’s The Sunday Show: “It’s an exceptionally dry period of weather we have been having and I know for the next week it is going to be very dry as well.

“So anyone out with a camping stove, anything can park the fire, so we would urge anyone out to take care.

“We would advise people not to light camp fires and use naked flames.”

Police urged people to stay away from the site and urged and anyone camping nearby to leave. Areas affected include Merrick Hill, Ben Yellary and Loch Dee.

Another wildfire had been reported around the same the area on Thursday and covered some 1.5 miles (2.4km).

Scotland has seen a number of fires over the last few weeks as the weather gets warmer and drier.

The fire service issued an “extreme” warning for wildfires and the public has been urged to avoid lighting any fires outdoors until next week.

It warned that there was typically a large volume of “dead, bone-dry vegetation across large areas of countryside” at this time of year which acts as a fuel for fire.

The SFRS said hills are particularly prone to wildfires because the fire can spread far quicker uphill than on flatter ground.

BBC Scotland weather presenter, Christopher Blanchett, said the south of Scotland had only recorded about 30%-50% of its expected rainfall for March.

However, some areas close to the location of the fire at Glen Trool were drier still, with Scottish Environment Protection Agency rain gauge data showing rainfall at just 20% of expected levels.

He said: “This part of the Galloway forest hasn’t recorded any rainfall for more than a week, with the last wet weather here on 29 March.

“Overall, it’s been a dry start to April in Scotland and this followed a very dry March. There’s no rain forecast for the region for around another week too.

“In addition to the dry conditions, Friday and Saturday have been quite windy across the south west. On Friday night, the east-north-easterly winds were gusting close to gale force on the Solway coast.

He added: “All of these factors combined can help fuel wildfires and allow them to spread”.

Meanwhile an amber alert for wildfires is in place for parts of England, southern Scotland and Northern Ireland until Monday.

A huge gorse fire spanning about two miles (3.2km) in the Mourne Mountains in County Down is being tackled by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service.

Police believe that fire may have been started deliberately.

The UK saw its warmest day of the year so far on Friday as temperatures reached 23C (73F) in the south of England.

Otterbourne and Gosport in Hampshire saw the highest temperatures and were warmer than Ibiza, Rhodes and Cyprus.

Cardiff was expected to see the mercury rise to 21C, while Scotland and Northern Ireland were forecast to be cooler, with around 10C in Edinburgh and 15C in Belfast predicted.

Temperatures are forecast to fall this weekend as cooler air moves down from the north. England’s south coast will be warmest on Saturday with an expected high of 21C, while Sunday will peak nearer 17C.

Before Friday, the highest temperature recorded so far this year was 21.3C in Northolt, west London, and Chertsey, Surrey, on 20 March.

Last month was the sunniest March in England since records began in 1910, according to the Met Office. It was also very dry, with the UK’s rainfall total just 43% of the usual amount.

Whereas, the highest April temperature ever recorded in the UK was 29.4C on 16 April 1949.

Friday will be warm across most of the country. Temperatures will be lower near North Sea coasts, where the wind is blowing from the sea and temperatures are around 13C.

Wild temperature swings are not unusual at this time of year.

Parts of southern England already hit highs of 20.7C on Thursday and 20.1C in the Scottish Highlands.

Scotland had its warmest day of the year on Thursday but temperatures both there and in Northern Ireland will be a little lower on Friday.

Temperatures are forecast to fall at the weekend as cooler air moves down from the north.

The south coast of England will be warmest on Saturday, reaching 21C, while the highest temperature in the UK on Sunday will be nearer 17C – still well above the seasonal norm.

Northern Ireland will be cooler this weekend but is set to turn warmer again next week with temperatures of up to 18C expected.

Heading into next week, the risk of overnight frost will return for the beginning of the week but it is expected to warm up again, with temperatures forecast to be back up to 21C in Scotland.

Throughout this time it is still looking dry, and those conditions are ideal for wildfires starting and spreading.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said on Wednesday that there was a “very high to extreme risk” of fires spreading while Cumbria Fire and Rescue service urged the public to act responsibly to cut the risk of wildfires.

The fire service has tackled blazes this week near Bonhill in West Dunbartonshire and in the Kilpatrick Hills near Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire.

Elsewhere, more than 126 acres (51 hectares) were left charred after a fire at Upton Heath in Poole shortly before midnight on Wednesday, and a second fire broke out at nearby Canford Heath on Thursday morning.

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fires were both “down to human intervention”.

In England there were 185.8 hours of sunshine in March, according to the Met Office, the country recorded its sixth driest March and Wales its fourth driest since records began in 1836.

The story goes that 60 years ago, Tunnock’s teacakes were banned from RAF flights after a cockpit marshmallow explosion.

The chocolate-covered treats were apparently all the rage, eaten by nuclear bomber crewmen on training sorties at the height of the Cold War.

But in the summer of 1965, a captain and student pilot forgot they had placed unwrapped teacakes above their instrument panels.

When the captain pulled an emergency depressurising switch the iconic Scottish treat erupted – leaving a sticky mess over the airmen, the instruments and cockpit canopy.

Now the RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine has now given them the all-clear to fly again, after tests in an altitude chamber found the teacakes did not explode.

The experiments were covered by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) at the centre based at RAF Henlow in Bedfordshire.

First the teacakes were put into an altitude chamber – normally used in the training of new fast jet pilots – and were lifted to 8,000ft, climbing at 4,000ft per minute,

They were then rapidly decompressed to 25,000ft in three seconds to see if they would blow up.

As air pressure in the chamber decreased, the air inside the teacakes expanded until the chocolate cracked and the mallow filling puffed out.

BFBS reporter Hannah King, who witnessed the tests, said while the mallow escaped from the chocolate casing, they “did not appear to explode and cause a risk to in-flight safety”.

It was also discovered that when they were frozen before being placed in the chamber, their hardened shells were more resilient to cracking at altitude.

Pilots have been allowed to take them back in the cockpit but have been offered some advice by Dr Oliver Bird, an instructor at the RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine, who carried out the tests.

“The best advice is that the snacks are kept frozen and in their foil wrappings until pilots are ready to consume them,” he said.

Tunnock’s, based in Uddingston, near Glasgow, has been approached for comment.

A growing confrontation between Israel and Turkey over influence in Syria is posing a serious challenge for Syria’s fragile new government.

On Wednesday night, Israel bombed several military targets in Syria, including two airports – Hama military airport and the T4 base near Homs.

Syria’s foreign ministry said the bombardment virtually destroyed the Hama base. A prominent Syrian human rights group said four defence ministry employees were killed, and a dozen other people injured.

The air strikes hit Syria, but their real target was Turkey.

Shortly afterwards, Israel’s foreign minister accused Turkey of playing a “negative role” in Syria, and Israel’s defence minister warned Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, that he would “pay a very heavy price” if he allowed “hostile forces” to enter his country.

Ankara is currently negotiating a joint defence pact with Sharaa’s new government, and there have been widespread reports that Turkey is moving to station aircraft and air defence systems at Syria’s T4 and Aleppo airbases.

Some analysts compared Israel’s intense air strikes on Hama airport this week with the much lighter bombing on the edge of the T4 base, suggesting that Turkey may have already moved some equipment there and that Israel was calibrating its attack to avoid a full-blown escalation.

Relations between Israel and Turkey have nose-dived since the Gaza war began in October 2023, with Ankara introducing trade restrictions and accusing Israel of genocide.

That regional tension is now playing out on new ground in Syria.

After the air strikes on Wednesday, Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Israel of destabilising the region by “both causing chaos and feeding terrorism” and said it was now the greatest threat to the security of the region.

But foreign minister Hakan Fidan told Reuters news agency that his country was not seeking confrontation with Israel, and that Syria could set its own policies with its southern neighbour.

Syria’s new leader has repeatedly signalled that he was not looking for confrontation with Israel. Soon after sweeping President Bashar al-Assad from power last December, he told the BBC that Syria would not pose a threat to any country.

He has even left the door open to normalising diplomatic relations with Israel in the future, telling the Economist last month that Syria wanted peace with all parties, but that it was too early to discuss such a sensitive issue.

His top priority since taking power has been to unite a bitterly divided Syria, and pacify external relations with its neighbours, while he cements his power and control.

But Israel has not made that easy. Its military interventions in Syria are fuelling conflict with both external powers like Turkey, and with internal groups like jihadists in the country’s south.

Once an implacable enemy of Syria’s former president and his Iranian ally, Israel is also suspicious of Sharaa, a man who once led the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and whose new government is backed by Turkey.

Since he took power, Israel’s military has repeatedly pounded Syrian weapons stores, airfields and other military sites left by the former regime, to avoid them falling into enemy hands, it says.

It has also occupied a demilitarised buffer zone, set up after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and has sent forces onto the Syrian side of a nearby mountain, setting up nine bases across the area.

Israeli troops are also making regular incursions into Syria’s south-western provinces, vowing to prevent the presence of any armed groups or government forces there.

Earlier this week, the local government in the southern city of Deraa said nine civilians were killed in an Israeli bombardment, during the deepest incursion there yet by Israeli forces.

Another four people were killed in Israeli shelling near the village of Koya late last month, after local gunmen tried to stop the advance of Israeli forces there.

Since then, mosques in both Deraa and Damascus have reportedly called for jihad against Israeli forces.

Charles Lister, head of the Syria Programme at the US-based Middle East Institute, which studies the region, has counted more than 70 ground incursions into south-west Syria since February, describing this as “an extraordinarily dangerous moment – and an unnecessary one”.

Since the fall of Assad four months ago, he says, not one attack has targeted Israel from Syria, the country’s security forces have intercepted “at least 18 weapons shipments destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon, and dismantled at least eight formerly Iranian-linked rocket launch sites”.

Many Syrians are disappointed by Israel’s response to their new government. They watched for years as Israel targeted the Assad regime, and believed that Assad’s fall would bring the chance for a less confrontational relationship with Israel.

Some say that view is now changing.

“We used to believe that the Israeli army was only targeting Assad’s regime forces,” said Ismail, a restaurant owner in the west of the country. “But its continued, incomprehensible bombings are sadly making us think that Israel is an enemy of the Syrian people.”

Syria is vulnerable because its internal divisions are easily inflamed by regional and global interventions. The roots of sectarian conflict run deep here, nourished by decades of repressive rule by the Assad family, members of Syria’s Alawite minority.

Ahmed al-Sharaa’s attempts to reassure the country’s minorities were interrupted in early March by an explosion of violence in Syria’s coastal region – a stronghold of the former regime.

At least 1,000 Alawite civilians or disarmed fighters were massacred by pro-government forces, after government units were ambushed in a co-ordinated attack led by remnants of Syria’s former armed forces.

Those former armed forces were once backed by Iran. Some analysts believe their remnants may still be receiving some support from Tehran.

Syrians celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad as an end to their civil war, and a chance to unite.

But outside powers helped fuel that civil war for more than a decade, and its neighbours are now eyeing the vacuum left by Assad. The risk is growing that Syria will again fall victim to the conflicts of outside powers, played out on Syrian soil.