Israeli air strikes kill at least 32 Palestinians in Gaza, rescue officials say
BBC News
By Sofia Ferreira Santos
31 January 2026,

Several strikes have been reported across the Strip, including in Khan Younis

At least 32 people have been killed in a wave of Israeli air strikes across the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to local authorities.

The civil defence agency, which is operated by Hamas, says children and women were among those killed. It added that in one attack, helicopter gunships hit a tent sheltering displaced people in the southern city of Khan Younis.

Palestinians have described these strikes as the heaviest since the second phase of the ceasefire, brokered by President Trump in October, came into effect earlier this month.

The Israeli military confirmed that a number of strikes were carried out in response to what it said was a Hamas violation of the agreement on Friday.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the truce since it came into effect last year.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “eight terrorists were identified exiting the underground terror infrastructure in eastern Rafah”, an area in Gaza where Israeli forces are deployed under the October agreement.

The IDF said it had, together with the Israel Security Agency (ISA), struck targets in various locations including “four commanders and additional terrorists” as well as a weapons storage facility, a weapons manufacturing site and “two launch sites belonging to Hamas in the central Gaza Strip”.

Hamas has condemned the strikes and urged the US to take immediate action, adding that “these ongoing violations” confirm that the Israeli government “continues its brutal war of genocide against the strip”.

It said that seven of the victims were from one displaced family in Khan Younis, with a civil defence spokesman adding that the strikes hit residential apartments, tents, shelters and a police station.

Officials at Gaza City’s Shifa hospital said an air strike on the city hit a residential apartment, killing three children and two women.

“We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” said Samer al-Atbash, an uncle of the three dead children, according to Reuters news agency.

Video footage and images from across Gaza showed several bodies being lifted out of rubble and a number of buildings destroyed.

A police mini van with rubble on top of it, surrounded by several people
Image source,Reuters
Image caption,
A police station was also hit in Gaza City, local authorities say, killing at least 12

The strikes come as the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s border with Egypt, is due to reopen on Sunday after the IDF recovered the body of Israel’s last hostage earlier this week.

Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes in a statement seen by AFP news agency, and urged all parties to “exercise the utmost restraint”.

Qatar, one of the key mediators during ceasefire talks, also denounced the “repeated Israeli violations”, its foreign ministry said.

The war between Israel and Hamas began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

Israel responded by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which more than 71,660 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

It says at least 509 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire began on 10 October 2025. Four Israeli soldiers have also been killed.

Though Israel has previously disputed figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, a senior security source was reported by local media as saying that the military accepts that more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war in Gaza.

The health ministry’s figures have been deemed reliable by the UN and other human rights groups and widely cited by international media. Israel does not allow news organisations, including the BBC, into Gaza to report independently.

Trump says ‘very dangerous’ for UK to do business with China as Starmer lands in Shanghai
BBC News
By Chris Mason, Political editor, Reporting fromShanghai and Toby Mann
30 January 2026

Donald Trump said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to do business with China, as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrived in Shanghai on the third day of his visit to the country.
The US president was reacting to agreements aimed at increasing business and investment between the UK and China, announced after Sir Keir met Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Speaking at the premiere of a documentary about his wife Melania on Thursday, Trump went on to refer to Xi as a “friend” of his and said he knew the Chinese president “very well”.

UK business minister Sir Chris Bryant said Trump was “wrong” and it would be “bonkers frankly for the UK to ignore the presence of China on the world stage”.

“Of course, we enter into our relationship with China with our eyes wide open,” he added.

The business minister also pointed out that Trump is due to visit China himself in April.

In response to Trump’s remarks, Downing Street indicated that Washington had been aware of this trip and its objectives in advance.
What did UK and China get out of Starmer’s reset visit?

Arriving at the premiere of the Melania film on Thursday, the US president was asked by a reporter: “What do you think about the UK going into business with China?”

Beyond his brief comments, Trump did not say anything further about the UK’s engagement with China, pivoting instead to Canada and delivering a similar warning.

He said it was “even more dangerous, I think, for Canada”.
“Canada is not doing well. They’re doing very poorly, and you can’t look at China as the answer,” he added.

Earlier this week, the US president threatened to impose tariffs on Canada if it went through with economic deals struck with China on a recent visit to Beijing by its Prime Minister Mark Carney.
The comments come after Sir Keir said the UK’s relationship with China was in a “good, strong place” following his talks with Xi at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday.

Sir Keir said on Friday that the “very good meetings” with Xi had provided “just the level of engagement that we hoped for”.
“We warmly engaged and made some real progress, actually, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer,” he told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China in Beijing.
So far several things have come out of Sir Keir’s trip including an agreement on visa-free travel and lower whisky tariffs, as well as a £10.9bn investment by AstraZeneca to build manufacturing facilities in China.

An agreement aimed at tackling organised crime and illegal immigration will see the UK and China share intelligence to identify the supply routes of people smugglers.

The UK government says the inflatable dinghies used in small boat crossings often contain parts sourced in China.
Other deals include an agreement to co-operate on reducing red tape for UK exporters and collaborate on health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance.

In front of a red background, Sir Keir Starmer delivers remarks at a UK-China Business Forum in Beijing

Sir Keir Starmer delivers remarks at a UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China, in Beijing on Friday

The US was the UK’s largest single country trading partner in 2025, while China was the fourth largest, according to the Department for Business and Trade.

The chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, Chris Torrens, praised Sir Keir’s visit to Beijing as “successful”.
Torrens told the BBC it made “sense for the UK to be looking to China, it’s one of its larger trading partners”.
He added that other Western leaders had either been to Beijing recently or would do so soon.

“The US are maybe sanctioning and reprimanding other economies and slapping tariffs on countries that are doing deals with China but the US itself may well do a deal with China. In fact we expect that this year,” Torrens told the BBC.

Sir Keir arrived in Shanghai on Friday morning, his last stop in China before leaving for Tokyo to meet his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, for a working dinner.

Opposition MPs have criticised the prime minister over his trip to China – the first by a UK leader since 2018 – over the risk posed to the UK’s national security and Xi’s human rights record.
China has been accused of “serious human rights violations” by the UN against the Uyghur population and other mostly-Muslim ethnic groups.

It has also been criticised over the treatment of Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is facing life in prison.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Sir Keir had “gone to Beijing to kowtow to President Xi” and accused the government of trading “national security for economic crumbs off the Chinese table”.
Earlier this month, the government received similar criticism when it approved China’s plans for a huge new embassy in central London.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said intelligence agencies had been “integral” to that decision-making process, and he was “content any risks are being appropriately managed”.

ByBecky Morton

BBC News – Political reporter

• Published29 January 2026,

China has agreed to allow British citizens to travel to the country for up to 30 days without a visa, Downing Street has said.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met President Xi Jinping in Beijing, as he became the first British leader to visit the country in eight years.

The trip also saw an agreement to cut import taxes on UK whisky from 10% to 5%, as the government seeks closer trade ties with Beijing to help boost economic growth.

However, critics have argued the UK should have a more cautious relationship with China because of the risk to national security and the country’s human rights record.

There is no date for when the visa agreement will be in force but the government is hoping this will happen as soon as possible.

Hundreds of thousands of British people could potentially benefit from the change, with around 620,000 travelling to China in 2024 according to the Office for National Statistics.

Downing Street said it would bring the UK into line with 50 other countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan.

Sir Keir said the move would make it easier for businesses to expand in China, while people would also be able to go on holiday there without a visa.

“As one of the world’s economic powerhouses, businesses have been crying out for ways to grow their footprints in China,” he said.

“We’ll make it easier for them to do so – including via relaxed visa rules for short-term travel – supporting them to expand abroad, all while boosting growth and jobs at home.”

Downing Street said the UK and China had also agreed to explore whether to enter negotiations on a services agreement, which would establish clear and legally binding rules for UK firms doing business in China.

The UK is the world’s second largest exporter of services – including in finance, healthcare and legal services – and No 10 said demand from China in the area was growing.

It said an agreement would open up Chinese markets for businesses, for example by enabling recognition of UK professional qualifications.

Meanwhile, pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will invest $15bn (£10.9bn) in China up to 2030, establishing new manufacturing sites and expanding its workforce in the country.

Speaking after his meeting with President Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing – which lasted around an hour and 20 minutes – Sir Keir said the pair had discussed how “huge opportunities” in China could benefit people in the UK.

He said the pair had also made “good progress” on cooperation over illegal migration.

Under an agreement signed on Thursday, Downing Street said UK and Chinese law enforcement would cooperate to disrupt the supply of small boat engines and equipment used by criminal gangs to help migrants cross the Channel.

Last year more than 60% of engines used by smuggling gangs were found to be branded as Chinese-manufactured.

The deal is among 10 agreements signed between the two countries, covering areas including exports, education and food safety.

The prime minister said he had also raised contentious issues including the jailing of pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai and the treatment of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang.

“Part of the rationale for engagement is to make sure that we can both seize the opportunities that are available, which is what we’ve done, but also have a mature discussion about issues that we disagree on,” he added.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer has gone to Beijing to kowtow to President Xi, in the hope to get a few economic crumbs from President Xi’s table, to make up for the catastrophic handling of the economy, and he’s trading off our national security in order to do that.”

He added that the deal on small boats was a “gimmick” that would make no difference to crossings.

Sir Keir has travelled to Beijing with a delegation of British business and cultural leaders.

At the start of his meeting with Xi, the PM said he wanted a “more sophisticated” relationship with China.

Stressing the benefits of closer ties for people in the UK, he said: “Events abroad affect everything that happens back in our home countries, from prices on the supermarket shelves to how secure we feel.”

Meanwhile, President Xi said UK-China relations had gone through “some twists and turns that did not serve the interests of our countries”.

He argued dialogue between the UK and China was “imperative” in a “turbulent and fluid” world.

He praised previous Labour governments for making “important contributions to the growth of China-UK relations” and told Sir Keir the two men would “stand the test of history” if they could “rise above differences”.

Following the meeting, as a gift, Sir Keir gave President Xi a football used during last weekend’s Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal.

The PM is a keen Arsenal fan, while the president reportedly supports Manchester United.

President Xi gifted Sir Keir a copper statue of a horse, while Chinese Premier Li Qian gave the prime minister three kinds of flutes.

The trip comes at a time of heightened trade tensions after US President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Canada for signing a “strategic partnership” with China.

The visit has been criticised by opposition parties, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch saying she would not be going to China at this time if she was PM.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller said Sir Keir’s approach was “all give and no take”.

“Many British firms and universities want Chinese business but the British public also wants to know the PM is standing up for our national security,” he said.