The contractor shared footage from inside a GHF site with the BBC
A former security contractor for Gaza's controversial new Israel- and US-backed aid distribution sites has told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns.
On one occasion, he said, a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people was moving too slowly away from the site.
When asked to respond the GHF said the allegations were categorically false.
They referred us to a statement saying that no civilians ever came under fire at the GHF distribution sites.
The GHF began its operations in Gaza at the end of May, distributing limited aid from several sites in southern and central Gaza. That followed an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel during which no food entered the territory.
The system has been widely criticised for forcing vast numbers of people to walk through active combat zones to a handful of sites. Since the GHF started up, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Israel says the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas.
Continuing his description of the incident at one of the GHF sites - in which he said guards fired on a group of Palestinians - the former contractor said: "As that happened, another contractor on location, standing on the berm overlooking the exit, opened up with 15 to 20 shots of repetitive weapons fire at the crowd.
"A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor who was standing there was like, 'damn, I think you got one'. And then they laughed about it."
The contractor, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said GHF managers had brushed off his report as a coincidence, suggesting that the Palestinian man could have "tripped" or been "tired and passed out".
The GHF claimed the former contractor who made these allegations is a "disgruntled former contractor" who they had terminated for misconduct, which he denies. He showed us payslips suggesting that he continued to be paid for two weeks after leaving the post.
SUPPLIED
Supplied footage showed long queues of aid seekers in a fenced corridor
The man we spoke to, who said he had worked at all four of the GHF distribution sites, described a culture of impunity with few rules or controls.
He said contractors were given no clear rules of engagement or standard operating procedures, and were told by one team leader: "if you feel threatened, shoot – shoot to kill and ask questions later".
The culture in the company, he said, felt like "we're going into Gaza so it's no rules. Do what you want."
"If a Palestinian is walking away from the site and not demonstrating any hostile intent, and we're shooting warning shots at them regardless, we are wrong, we are criminally negligent," he told me.
He told us that each site had site CCTV monitoring activity there, and GHF insistence that no one there had been hurt or shot at was "an absolute bare-faced lie".
GHF said that gunfire heard in footage shared with the BBC was coming from Israeli forces.
Team leaders referred to Gazans as "zombie hordes", the contractor told me, "insinuating that these people have no value."
The former contractor also said Palestinians were coming to harm in other ways at GHF sites, for example by being hit by debris from stun grenades, being sprayed with mace or being pushed by the crowds into razor wire.
He said he himself had witnessed several occasions in which Palestinians appeared to have been seriously hurt, including one man who had a full can of pepper spray in his face, and a woman who he says was hit with the metal part of a stun grenade, improperly fired into a crowd.
"This metal piece hit her directly in the head and she dropped to the ground, not moving," he said. "I don't know if she was dead. I know for a fact she was unconscious and completely limp."
Reuters
The GHF operation has been criticised for forcing people to walk through active combat zones
Earlier this week more than 170 charities and other NGOs called for the GHF to be shut down. The organisations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, say Israeli forces and armed groups "routinely" open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shoot at aid recipients and says the GHF's system provides direct assistance to people who need it, bypassing Hamas interference.
The GHF says it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and that other organisations "stand by helplessly as their aid is looted".
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Additional reporting by Gidi Kleiman and Samantha Granville
School officials have demanded answers from federal agencies. It was the latest example of how locals have scrutinized the actions of immigration agents.
Democrats believe President Donald Trump’s tax-and-spend megabill gives them a heavy cudgel ahead of the 2026 midterms. Now they have to effectively wield it as they try to reclaim the House.
Ad-makers have quickly prepped attack ads to air as soon as the holiday weekend is over, including in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. House Democrats are plotting to turn the August recess into the opening salvo of the midterms, including through town halls and organizing programs.
And Democrats see an opportunity to expand the battleground, going on offense into red areas across the country. The bill that passed Thursday has already triggered a spike in candidate interest deep into Trump territory, House Majority PAC said. Separately, Democrats are digging into a round of candidate recruitment targeting a half-dozen House districts Trump won by high single or double digits, according to a person directly familiar with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s plan and granted anonymity to describe private conversations. They’re recruiting Democrats to challenge Reps. Ann Wagner of Missouri, Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Kevin Kiley of California, Nick LaLota of New York and Jeff Crank of Colorado
“There's almost nothing about this bill that I'm going [to] have a hard time explaining to the district,” said Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), who represents a district Trump won by 9 points. “This is a giant tax giveaway to wealthy people. Everyone fucking knows it.”
Democrats’ renewed bravado comes after months in the political wilderness, following sweeping losses across the country last year. And it’s not just the megabill’s consequences that give them electoral hope.
Leading to Thursday’s vote was a series of moves they believe portend success: North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who criticized the bill for its steep Medicaid cuts before voting against it, announced his plans to not seek reelection last weekend. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who represents one of the three GOP-held districts that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024, also announced his plans to not run for reelection. That opened up two top midterm battleground races in one weekend.
Democrats have also been far more in sync with their pushback in recent days after months of struggling to unify around a coherent message during Trump’s second term. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ record-setting speech on the House floor Thursday morning mirrored those of several Democratic candidates who mentioned Medicaid cuts in their campaign launches this week.
Next they have to spread the message farther, as polling shows many Americans aren’t yet aware of the megabill and its $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs. And Democrats privately acknowledge that as voters learn more, the party needs to stretch its House battlefield to chart a path back to power.
“No Democrat is going to nationally define this bill in six weeks, so we have to build a drumbeat. You do that by having 70 to 75 campaigns, because then you’re localizing the attack across the country,” the person directly familiar with the DCCC’s plans said. “We don’t have that yet. In reality, there are maybe 24 to 30 districts with good campaigns going right now.”
Some Democratic strategists are urging the party to capitalize on this momentum even more aggressively.
“We need to be doing early, paid communications on this — not just the same old cable buys, token digital buys in swing districts and press conferences,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic consultant who served as the DCCC’s political director in 2014 and 2016. “Democrats need to take some risks here, mobilize early, spend money they may not have because voters' views harden over time, and this is when we can shape it.”
In 2024, Democrats failed to break through with their message after President Joe Biden dug the party into a hole with voters on the economy. Trump successfully cast himself as focused on bringing down costs while painting Kamala Harris as overly obsessed with social issues like protecting transgender people. Harris, for her part, ran a scatter-shot, three-month messaging blitz that jumped from cost-of-living to abortion rights to Trump’s threats to democracy, which ultimately didn’t move voters.
Republicans, for their part, plan to emphasize the megabill’s tax cuts, especially those on tips and overtime, and increased funding for border security. On Medicaid cuts, they hope to neutralize Democrats’ attacks by casting them as reforms: tightened work requirements and efforts to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse, a pair of Medicaid-related changes that generally polls well among voters.
“This vote cemented House Democrats’ image as elitist, disconnected, snobby, unconcerned with the problems Americans face in their daily lives, and most of all — out of touch,” said NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella in a statement. “House Republicans will be relentless in making this vote the defining issue of 2026, and we will use every tool to show voters that Republicans stood with them while House Democrats sold them out.”
But as Republicans look to sell their bill, public polling on it is bleak. Most Americans disapprove of it, in some polls by a two-to-one margin, according to surveys conducted by Quinnipiac University, The Washington Post, Pew Research and Fox News.
Meanwhile a pair of Democratic groups, Priorities USA and Navigator Research, released surveys this week showing majorities of voters aren’t fully aware of the megabill. Nearly half of Americans said they hadn’t heard anything about the bill, according to Priorities USA, a major Democratic super PAC. Of those who had heard about it, only 8 percent said they knew Medicaid cuts were included in the legislation.
Two-thirds of survey respondents who self-identified as passive or avoidant news consumers, the kinds of tuned out and low-information voters Democrats failed to win in 2024, said they knew nothing about the bill.
“We have a lot more work to do as a party to communicate the impacts of this bill to voters who are tuning out politics,” said Danielle Butterfield, Priorities USA executive director.
Butterfield urged Democrats to “get beyond the stats” and “start collecting storytellers.” Then, start putting ads online, particularly on YouTube, not just traditional TV ads.
“We need to put a face on this as soon as possible,” she said.
Among those potential faces is Nathan Sage, a first-time candidate and Iraq War veteran who is challenging Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst. Sage grew up occasionally relying on food assistance, another program that will be cut in the GOP bill, and has said he’s already hearing from Iowans who “feel that they were duped into believing the Republican agenda when it first came out, because they were talking about no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime. That's things that working class people want.”
“Until they start hearing [how it] is actually going to affect them, when they do hear that, that's when the outrage happens,” Sage said in an interview.
Iowa, once a perennial battleground, is now solidly red, as Democrats have consistently lost white, working class voters there. Sage and Democratic pollster Brian Stryker argued the megabill opens a path to winning them back
The Medicaid cuts “enable us to have an issue that’s salient, substantive that’s on the side of working class people,” Stryker said. In 2024, 49 percent of Medicaid recipients voted for Trump, while 47 percent backed Harris, according to polling from Morning Consult.
“I hope that this does wake up the working class, does wake up people to understand — listen, they don't care about us,” Sage said, “and the only way that we are ever going to get out of the situation is to elect working class candidates to represent us, to fight for us, because they are us.”
The supreme court on Thursday cleared the way for the deportation of several immigrants who were put on a flight in May bound for South Sudan, a war-ravaged country where they have no ties.
The decision comes after the court’s conservative majority found that immigration officials can quickly deport people to third countries. The majority halted an order that had allowed immigrants to challenge any removals to countries outside their homeland where they could be in danger.
The court’s latest order makes clear that the South Sudan flight detoured weeks ago can now complete the trip. It reverses findings from federal Judge Brian Murphy in Massachusetts, who said his order on those migrants still stands even after the high court lifted his broader decision.
The majority wrote that their decision on 23 June completely halted Murphy’s ruling and also rendered his decision on the South Sudan flight “unenforceable”. The court did not fully detail its legal reasoning on the underlying case, as is common on its emergency docket.
Two liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissented, saying the ruling gives the government special treatment. “Other litigants must follow the rules, but the administration has the supreme court on speed dial,” Sotomayor wrote.
Attorneys for the eight migrants have said they could face “imprisonment, torture and even death” if sent to South Sudan, where escalating political tensions have threatened to devolve into another civil war.
“We know they’ll face perilous conditions, and potentially immediate detention, upon arrival,” Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, said Thursday.
The push comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by Trump’s Republican administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally. The Trump administration has called Murphy’s finding “a lawless act of defiance.”
The White House and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Authorities have reached agreements with other countries to house immigrants if authorities cannot quickly send them back to their homelands. The eight men sent to South Sudan in May had been convicted of serious crimes in the US.
Murphy, who was nominated by Democratic president Joe Biden, did not prohibit deportations to third countries. But he found migrants must have a real chance to argue they could be in danger of torture if sent to another country.
Layoffs and departures after pressure from the Trump administration have left sites struggling, with the remaining employees each doing the work of two or three people.
A National Park Service custodian cleaning a bathroom in Yosemite National Park in February. At another national park, in Colorado, all the custodial staff have been fired and the other staff members have had to take on their duties.
Ethan Guo, 19, had been documenting his attempt to fly solo to all seven continents on social media. He is no longer in custody but has no easy way to leave an island off Antarctica’s coast.
Brian Fitzpatrick’s survival mechanism as a battleground House Republican entails occasionally distancing himself from his own MAGA-controlled party.
On Thursday he took that to the next level by voting against President Donald Trump’s megabill amid an unrelenting pressure campaign from the White House.
The head-turning move made Fitzpatrick one of just two House Republicans to buck the party on the president’s signature domestic policy legislation that some in the GOP fear is worsening their political outlook ahead of the 2026 midterms. Over the past few days, two congressional Republicans in swing seats announced they were not running for reelection. Fitzpatrick belongs to a GOP trio representing districts that former Vice President Kamala Harris captured, and Democrats are once again eyeing him as a top target next year when they try to reclaim the House.
Fitzpatrick’s break with Trump over his key legislation also carries major risks of intra-party backlash. On Thursday, some MAGA influencers were already threatening a primary challenge.
“He has now gained the ability to say, ‘I am not a rubber stamp to Trump. I will vote against his agenda when I believe it’s the right thing to do,” said Mike Conallen, Fitzpatrick’s former chief of staff. “But given the inclination of the president and his supporters to basically go after anybody who doesn’t support them, you’ve now become potentially the lighting rod for all those MAGA individuals and the president himself.”
Fitzpatrick attributed his vote to changes made by the Senate, which deepened the cuts included in initial bill language he had backed.
“I voted to strengthen Medicaid protections, to permanently extend middle-class tax cuts, for enhanced small business tax relief, and for historic investments in our border security and our military,” he said in a statement. “However, it was the Senate’s amendments to Medicaid, in addition to several other Senate provisions, that altered the analysis.”
It was a shocking move even for Fitzpatrick.
First elected in 2016, he has cultivated a brand as a moderate Republican who supported former President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package, won the endorsement of a major gun-control group, and regularly visited mosques in his district. He has at times even downplayed his affiliation with the Republican Party, calling himself “a fiercely independent voice.” His X header reads, “Defend Democracy. Vote Bipartisan.”
Still, many Republicans were shocked Wednesday night when he broke with the party on a procedural vote to move the legislation to a final vote, particularly because he had backed the earlier version of it weeks prior. They said he had not explained his opposition to them, even as other initially resistant Republicans went public with their concerns.
“I was surprised,” Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.) said. “And I do not know what his objection was.”
Some speculated his stance might be related to a letter he wrote to Trump this week opposing the administration’s halt of some weapons to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Fitzpatrick’s curveball briefly set off a scramble to find him, with the congressman reportedly bolting from the chamber and House Speaker Mike Johnson appearing to tell Fox News he was looking for him. Even some of Fitzpatrick’s fellow members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation were taken aback by his decision.
“You’ll have to ask him,” Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.), who is eyeing a gubernatorial run, said in response to a question about the vote.
A Democrat hasn’t held Fitzpatrick’s prized Bucks County-based seat since his late brother, Mike Fitzpatrick, reclaimed it from then-Rep. Patrick Murphy in 2010. In the past, Democrats have fielded candidates who lacked electoral experience or were an otherwise imperfect fit to take on this durable incumbent. But they believe they have finally recruited a top contender to run against Fitzpatrick in a county commissioner named Bob Harvie, who has shown the ability to win the battleground county, which comprises most of the district.
“They’re scared. They know this bill is unpopular,” Harvie said of Republicans, arguing Fitzpatrick’s vote was “too little, too late” and “the only reason it got to the Senate is because he voted for it.”
A pro-Fitzpatrick super PAC, Defending America PAC, quickly released a statement Thursday casting the vote as proof of his bipartisan leanings and touting his record of “winning a seat for Republicans in a district carried by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton,” and slamming Harvie for "bitching and moaning with no solutions of his own."
Even for Fitzpatrick, though, his vote was particularly a lonely one.
Only he and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a longtime gadfly for Trump, voted against the megabill on Thursday. And Fitzpatrick was the sole Republican who did not support clearing Wednesday night’s procedural hurdle to advance the bill and didn’t back down under pressure. A handful of other Republicans initially cast votes against it, but switched them at the last minute.
Fitzpatrick’s allies said he’s proven adept at navigating the complicated political cross-currents in his swing district. And sometimes, they said, that means upsetting his party.
“Working with Brian over the years, he’s very aware of his district,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.). “And he’s very aware of where he should be when he’s representing them.”
Kelly said Thursday he has not spoken with Fitzpatrick about his vote but has “no problem” with it.
Some MAGA activists weren’t as forgiving.
Conservative influencer Nick Sortor posted on the social media platform X on Wednesday, “ATTENTION PEOPLE OF PENNSYLVANIA’S 1ST DISTRICT: Your Congressman @RepBrianFitz SOLD YOU OUT.”
Pro-Trump activist Scott Presler likewise wrote on X, “Yes, I am aware that Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA01) voted NO to the Big Beautiful Bill. Message received. CC: Bucks County.”
Democrats would be delighted if Fitzpatrick faced a messy, expensive primary.
Fitzpatrick has easily fended off challenges from Republicans running to his right. But they have lacked institutional support — namely Trump’s endorsement. Trump and his operation backing a primary opponent would present a new challenge for Fitzpatrick.
For weeks Trump has attacked Massie and promised to try to oust him, while his team launched a super PAC to unseat him.
The criticism from the White House was relatively tame in the hours after Fitzpatrick’s dissent. Trump told reporters that he was “disappointed” by the lawmaker's vote, but declined to immediately call for a primary challenge. A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
And Republican House leaders appear to be sticking by Fitzpatrick. After eventually finding him, Johnson told reporters he had spoken with him “at length” and “he just has convictions about certain provisions of the bill — he’s entitled to that.”
But Fitzpatrick’s opposition extends beyond his usual maneuvers, thus presenting a test for the modern-day GOP: Can a party that demands total loyalty to Trump stomach someone who occasionally defies the president in order to keep their congressional majority?
More often than not in recent years, the answer to that question has been no.
Rep. Don Bacon, a frequent Trump critic who represents another Harris district in Nebraska, announced this week that he would not run for reelection. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said Sunday he'd step down after Trump vowed to back a primary challenger against him because he opposed the megabill.
The contractor shared footage from inside a GHF site with the BBC
A former security contractor for Gaza's controversial new Israel- and US-backed aid distribution sites has told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire several times on hungry Palestinians who had posed no threat, including with machine guns.
On one occasion, he said, a guard had opened fire from a watchtower with a machine gun because a group of women, children and elderly people was moving too slowly away from the site.
When asked to respond the GHF said the allegations were categorically false.
They referred us to a statement saying that no civilians ever came under fire at the GHF distribution sites.
The GHF began its operations in Gaza at the end of May, distributing limited aid from several sites in southern and central Gaza. That followed an 11-week total blockade of Gaza by Israel during which no food entered the territory.
The system has been widely criticised for forcing vast numbers of people to walk through active combat zones to a handful of sites. Since the GHF started up, Israeli forces have killed more than 400 Palestinians trying to retrieve food aid from its sites, the UN and local doctors say. Israel says the new distribution system stops aid going to Hamas.
Continuing his description of the incident at one of the GHF sites - in which he said guards fired on a group of Palestinians - the former contractor said: "As that happened, another contractor on location, standing on the berm overlooking the exit, opened up with 15 to 20 shots of repetitive weapons fire at the crowd.
"A Palestinian man dropped to the ground motionless. And then the other contractor who was standing there was like, 'damn, I think you got one'. And then they laughed about it."
The contractor, who spoke to us on condition of anonymity, said GHF managers had brushed off his report as a coincidence, suggesting that the Palestinian man could have "tripped" or been "tired and passed out".
The GHF claimed the former contractor who made these allegations is a "disgruntled former contractor" who they had terminated for misconduct, which he denies. He showed us payslips suggesting that he continued to be paid for two weeks after leaving the post.
SUPPLIED
Supplied footage showed long queues of aid seekers in a fenced corridor
The man we spoke to, who said he had worked at all four of the GHF distribution sites, described a culture of impunity with few rules or controls.
He said contractors were given no clear rules of engagement or standard operating procedures, and were told by one team leader: "if you feel threatened, shoot – shoot to kill and ask questions later".
The culture in the company, he said, felt like "we're going into Gaza so it's no rules. Do what you want."
"If a Palestinian is walking away from the site and not demonstrating any hostile intent, and we're shooting warning shots at them regardless, we are wrong, we are criminally negligent," he told me.
He told us that each site had site CCTV monitoring activity there, and GHF insistence that no one there had been hurt or shot at was "an absolute bare-faced lie".
GHF said that gunfire heard in footage shared with the BBC was coming from Israeli forces.
Team leaders referred to Gazans as "zombie hordes", the contractor told me, "insinuating that these people have no value."
The former contractor also said Palestinians were coming to harm in other ways at GHF sites, for example by being hit by debris from stun grenades, being sprayed with mace or being pushed by the crowds into razor wire.
He said he himself had witnessed several occasions in which Palestinians appeared to have been seriously hurt, including one man who had a full can of pepper spray in his face, and a woman who he says was hit with the metal part of a stun grenade, improperly fired into a crowd.
"This metal piece hit her directly in the head and she dropped to the ground, not moving," he said. "I don't know if she was dead. I know for a fact she was unconscious and completely limp."
Reuters
The GHF operation has been criticised for forcing people to walk through active combat zones
Earlier this week more than 170 charities and other NGOs called for the GHF to be shut down. The organisations, including Oxfam and Save the Children, say Israeli forces and armed groups "routinely" open fire on Palestinians seeking aid.
Israel denies its soldiers deliberately shoot at aid recipients and says the GHF's system provides direct assistance to people who need it, bypassing Hamas interference.
The GHF says it had delivered more than 52 million meals in five weeks and that other organisations "stand by helplessly as their aid is looted".
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
Additional reporting by Gidi Kleiman and Samantha Granville
It's pitch black and we're crawling along a secret underground tunnel beneath a high street in Hull. We pass rotting beams propped up precariously by stacked breeze blocks. A rusty car jack is helping prevent the shop floor above from falling in.
Through the rubble, we follow a Trading Standards Officer, his torch swinging back and forth in the darkness until it rests on a hidden stash of thousands of illegal cigarettes.
This is just one such surreal experience while investigating the sale of illegal cigarettes in Hull. In one week we repeatedly witnessed counterfeit and smuggled tobacco being sold in high street mini marts - and were threatened by shop workers who grabbed our cameras when we tried to film them.
This is now a familiar story being repeated across Britain. In April, the National Crime Agency (NCA) raided hundreds of high street businesses, many suspected of being supplied by international crime gangs. Trading Standards teams have also found a thriving trade in illicit tobacco.
BBC/Phillip Edwards
Beneath the floor of a shop in Hull, a secret tunnel hides illegal cigarettes
One leading criminology expert called the networks behind the supply of illegal cigarettes the "golden thread for understanding serious organised crime", because of its links to people trafficking and, in some cases, illegal immigration.
So, in some ways, these high street shop fronts connect the various domestic problems facing Britain today.
Political researchers claim it's also damaging trust in police and the government - and turning our high streets into symbols of national decline.
'We're losing the war'
Alan, a former detective and now a Trading Standards officer, searches for counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes sold under the counter in mini marts, barber shops and takeaways around Hull, which he says have spread across the city at an alarming rate.
Under the floorboards of a mini mart called Ezee Shop, a network of these secret tunnels hide contraband stock. As battered suitcases and black sacks stuffed full of cigarettes are heaved up through the makeshift trap door, a man who we're told helps out in the shop watches on laughing.
"It's not something dangerous, it's only cigarettes," he says. "Everywhere has it; barber shops, takeaways." Some shops, he adds, are selling drugs including crack cocaine.
Alan estimates that there are about £20,000 worth of illegal cigarettes in this haul, a tiny proportion of a crime that HMRC says costs the country at least £2.2 billion in lost revenue.
Today's raid won't change what's happening on Hull's high streets, he says. He has been to some shops at least 20 times and he estimates that there are some 80 shops selling illegal cigarettes in the city.
"We're losing the war," he says.
BBC/Phillip Edwards
The BBC visited 12 shops in Hull. Here, correspondent Ed Thomas speaks to a shop assistant
He has been with Trading Standards for many years but didn't want to be fully identified because he's worried about the organised crime gangs often supplying these shops.
It's not long before someone claiming to be Ezee Shop's owner turns up. Alan says he is a Kurd from Iran. He is furious with us filming his illicit stock being taken away.
Dead flies and asbestos in cigarettes
Some of the illegal cigarettes sold across Britain are made in this country. Others are produced cheaply in countries like Poland or Belgium. Some are designed to imitate established brands. Illegal cigarettes are sold without the necessary taxes and duties, and many do not conform to safety standards.
Previously the Local Government Association warned that some black market cigarettes contained "human excrement, dead flies and asbestos".
We went undercover, visiting 12 shops in Hull, some multiple times, to try and buy these cheap cigarettes, and secretly filmed the responses.
The windows of many of these shops are covered with large pictures of fizzy drinks, sweets and vapes, obscuring what's going on inside.
Nine sold us illegal cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco. Two told us where we could buy cheap packs. We were openly offered a selection of brands with packets costing between £3 and £7 - instead of the average UK price of about £16.
BBC/Phillip Edwards
The cigarettes packets often look real - some of them imitate real brands
None of the businesses we bought illegal cigarettes from in Hull responded to our request for a comment. But this is not only a Hull problem.
Data shared with the BBC from investigators working for an international tobacco company say that last year they identified more than 600 shops selling illegal packets, with several cities including Bradford, Coventry and Nottingham flagged as hotspots. The BBC is unable to verify these figures.
In Bradford alone, they say they found 49 stores selling fake products in just two days. In the end, they had to stop the test purchases because they didn't have enough test bags to put the items in.
Are fines and penalties too low?
All of this is a growing problem - but it is also one with specific causes: profits, a lack of resources to enforce the law, a complex criminal supply network and in some cases organised immigration crime.
Professor Georgios Antonopoulos, criminologist at Northumbria University Newcastle, believes money is at the heart of it. "Legal tobacco products in the UK are subject to some of the highest excise taxes in the world," he says.
Illegal cigarettes are sometimes sold for as little as £3 to £5 per pack - compelling for some customers during a cost of living crisis.
PA Media
Illegal cigarettes are sometimes sold for as little as £3 to £5 per pack
In some cases, the financial penalties issued to criminals may be much lower than the profits they can make.
In the case of Ezee Shop in Hull, the shop owner had been convicted for selling illegal cigarettes in the past and was fined £80, plus costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
Tougher rules introduced in 2023 mean those convicted now can face higher fines of up to £10,000 - but this may still be lower than the value of the stash.
After the raid, we went back to the shop, covertly. Within a few hours it had reopened, restocked - and was selling illegal cigarettes once again.
Struggles with law enforcement
Leading criminologists tell the BBC that UK authorities are struggling to deal with the problem.
Prof Antonopoulos says teams are "chronically underfunded". He claims that police prioritise violent crimes and drug trafficking - "which is understandable," he adds.
Some Trading Standards officers are frustrated with the powers available to them. "The general public don't understand why they can't be closed down," Alan says.
They can use anti-social behaviour legislation to close shops for up to three months - but it can require statements from other businesses and members of the public.
We were told that after some shops shut down, the criminals simply reopen nearby. Alan wants a 'three strikes and you're out' policy to permanently close law-breaking businesses.
EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Last year, the government pledged £100 million over five years to help HMRC and Border Force crack down on the illegal trade
Last year, the previous government provided £100 million across five years to support HMRC and Border Force to tackle the illicit tobacco trade. But since then, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute warned that some broader forms of organised crime - including scammers and rogue traders - could effectively become decriminalised, due to a lack of funding.
As for the suppliers, HMRC says there are so many organised crime groups operating across borders that it is hard to limit the flow of goods into the UK.
In May, Hungarian authorities raided a factory where they found warehouses full of fake cigarettes. And there's even production in Ukraine, according to legitimate tobacco firms, with authorities there stretched because of the war.
Chinese triads have a 'vast business'
There is also a "significant production" of illicit tobacco here in the UK, says Prof Antonopoulos.
A Trading Standards team in south Wales told us that counterfeit hand-rolling tobacco is often sold cheaply. They claimed that some of it was made using forced labour, controlled by Chinese gangs.
Dave McKelvey, managing director of TM Eye private investigators, which works with tobacco firms to gather evidence on the illicit trade, claims that Fujian-based Chinese triads operate a "vast business" here in the UK.
And trying to track down the people in charge of these criminal enterprises is a challenge.
Trading Standards told the BBC that those named as the company director often have no real involvement in the company. Instead, they may be paid a small sum each month to be listed as the director on official documents.
Later this year, Companies House will receive new powers to better identify business owners.
Employing illegal workers
Authorities are trying to clean up British high streets. Just this year, we joined dozens of raids led by the NCA in barber shops and mini marts, in a month-long operation.
But the former senior detectives who worked with the BBC's undercover team said they need more time to fully expose the organised crime supplying some of the shop fronts.
Throughout our time with Trading Standards in Hull and in the dozens of raids we've been on with police in Shrewsbury and across Greater Manchester, officers claimed that tobacco operations are often staffed by Kurds from Iran and Iraq. Some may not have had the right to work.
PA Media
People care deeply about the quality of their local high street, political scientists say
In Hull, Alan believes that some people working in the shops he visits may be recruited from asylum seeker hotels. "They're expendable, if they get caught they just replace them with another.
Rochdale Trading Standards has made similar observations.
Criminology professor Emmeline Taylor argues that these criminal supply chains behind the supply of illegal tobacco are linked to other forms of crime - and the damage can't be underestimated.
"They're not just dealing in tobacco," she says. "It's firearms, it's drugs, it's people trafficking, it's illegal immigration."
The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, told us it is a "total disgrace" that "criminal gangs are trying to abuse our high streets by using shops as a front for organised crime".
She also accused gangs of "undermining our border and immigration systems by employing illegal workers".
Pockets of criminality on high streets
Of course, there have long been pockets of criminality on the UK high street. But now experts tell us that this illicit trade is harming people's trust in authority - and, at a basic level, their sense of fairness.
"If you're a law abiding business following the rules, you're jeopardising your own livelihood and the viability of your own business," argues Prof Taylor. "And to me that's not fair that someone can succeed by not playing by the rules."
Josh Nicholson, a researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, believes that perceptions of crime are worse than ever. "From research we have done there is a feeling of powerlessness, a lack of respect for authority like the police," he says.
"Are the police... seen to be tackling low level offences? When they don't see it tackled, people's perception is that things are getting a lot worse."
And people tend to trust the government less when they think access to good shops has declined in their area, says Will Jennings, a political science professor at the University of Southampton, based on studies he has done.
Nick Plumb, a director at the Power to Change charity, says his research shows that declining high streets boosts support for parties that were once considered outside of the political mainstream.
"Reform UK, for example, is doing better in places with declining high streets when compared to the rest of England," he says. "There's a sense that … mainstream politics, local authorities have all tried to tackle this issue, and [residents] haven't seen any change. It's that sense of 'the status quo hasn't solved these things, and therefore we want to try something new'."
Ultimately, what people see in the places they call home matters.
"People find a sense of local identity in the quality of the streets where they've grown up," adds Mr Nicholson.
"When the quality ... dramatically declines, and they feel they can't even go there - what that does to a sense of community is unquantifiable."
Additional reporting by Phillip Edwards.
Top Image credit: Javier Zayas Photography/ Getty Images
BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.
Suspended Labour MP Zarah Sultana has announced she is starting a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Sultana, stripped of the Labour whip last year for backing a move to scrap the two-child benefit cap, said she was also resigning from the party after 14 years of membership.
The MP for Coventry South said the new party would be formed with other independent MPs, campaigners and activists, aiming to challenge a "broken" Westminster system.
Corbyn has been contacted but has not confirmed his involvement to the BBC.
However last night, he had hinted he may form a new party, telling ITV's Peston "there is a thirst for an alternative" and that a "grouping will come together".
In a social media post, Sultana said the government is "an active participant in genocide" in Gaza - and highlighted growing poverty, the government's position on welfare, and the cost of living as reasons for establishing her new party.
"Labour has completely failed to improve people's lives. And across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.
"But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it."
Israel has strenuously denied accusations it is committing genocide or genocidal acts in Gaza.
Sultana added: "The government wants to make disabled people suffer; they just can't decide how much".
"We're not an island of strangers," she says, referencing a speech given by the prime minister in May about immigration, which he has since said he regrets. And she says at the next election, "the choice will be stark: socialism or barbarism".
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Moscow on Wednesday. He discussed Ukraine and Iran with President Trump by phone on Thursday, the Kremlin said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in letters to technology companies that President Trump had decided that shutting down TikTok would interfere with his “constitutional duties to take care of the national security and foreign affairs of the United States.”
Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat running for mayor of New York City, was born in Uganda. He doesn’t consider himself Black but said the application didn’t allow for the complexity of his background.
Death of Liverpool forward Jota leaves football world in shock
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Watch Diogo Jota's best career moments
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The death of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota in a car crash aged 28 has left the football world in shock.
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, both died after the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed in the Spanish province of Zamora.
BBC Sport has been told the 28-year-old was on his way to return to Liverpool for pre-season training by ferry because he had undergone minor surgery so doctors advised him against flying.
Jota married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children, just 11 days ago.
Liverpool said his death is a "tragedy that transcends" the club, while fans gathered outside Anfield to lay tributes.
Reds manager Arne Slot said Jota was "the essence of what a Liverpool player should be".
BBC Sport understands a wake for Jota and his brother will take place on Friday afternoon before their funeral on Saturday in Porto, Portugal.
Map showing the province of Zamora, in Spain, the highway A-52 and the town of Cernadilla, where Diogo Jota's car crashed
Jota and 25-year-old Silva, also a professional footballer for Portuguese second-tier club Penafiel, were killed after their car left the road because of a tyre blowout that occurred while overtaking another vehicle.
The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport both men died at about 00:30 local time on Thursday.
With Jota intending to return to Liverpool by boat, this is understood to mean he was travelling by car from Porto to take a ferry from Santander in northern Spain.
There are ferry routes from Santander to Plymouth and Portsmouth in the south of England.
Zamora, close to the Portuguese border, is about 190 miles from Porto and a similar distance from the port.
It is understood Jota had also travelled by road and sea to get to Porto for his wedding.
Liverpool and Ronaldo lead tributes
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Some Diogo Jota's best Premier League goals
Liverpool led the tributes to Jota, saying the club was "devastated" by such an "unimaginable loss".
He scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the FA Cup and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.
The club put out further statements later on Thursday, with boss Slot paying tribute to a player who had become "a loved one to all" at the club.
The Dutchman added: "Someone who made others feel good about themselves just by being with them. A person who cared deeply for his family."
Slot said he last spoke to Jota to congratulate him on Portugal winning the Nations League and wish him luck for his wedding.
"In many ways, it was a dream summer for Diogo and his family, which makes it all the more heartbreaking that it should end like this," he added.
Slot said Liverpool and their supporters are "all with" Jota's family and the "the same can be said of the wider family of football".
A statement from the the club's owners and leadership group, Billy Hogan, John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon, said they have been left "numb with grief" as they offered condolences to Jota's family.
They added: "Beyond the player that we all knew was a wonderfully humble human being, he was sincere, intelligent, funny, tough and created connections with people everywhere he went. He had a zest for life that was utterly contagious."
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports Group chief executive of football Michael Edwards said in statement: "This is a tragedy that transcends Liverpool football club."
They added the club will look to honour Jota with the "respect and affection" he deserves in the coming days, but for now "express a love that is filled with deep sorrow and pain" after losing someone "truly irreplaceable".
Jota had previously played for Pacos de Ferreira, Atletico Madrid, Porto and Wolves - for whom he netted 44 goals in 131 games - before joining Liverpool in 2020.
His final match was for Portugal in their Uefa Nations League final win against Spain. He scored 14 goals in 49 internationals.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo wrote on social media: "It doesn't make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, you had just got married."
Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo sent his condolences to Jota's family, wife and children, and added: "I know you will always be with them. Rest in Peace, Diogo e Andre. We will miss you."
Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager who signed Jota for the Reds, said he was "heartbroken".
"Diogo was not only a fantastic player, but also a great friend, a loving and caring husband and father," the German coach posted on Instagram.
"We will miss you so much."
Fans gather at Anfield
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tributes left by fans at Anfield
Thousands of football fans gathered at Liverpool's home ground Anfield on Thursday to pay their respects.
They laid tributes at the club's Hillsborough disaster memorial, with a sea of flowers, football shirts, scarves, balloons and flags outside the stadium.
Lifelong fan John Barlow from Leyland in Lancashire, a survivor of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, said he was "absolutely devastated" when the news broke and had to stop what he was doing at work to travel to Anfield.
Jota was a fan favourite, respected as a tenacious player on the pitch but also known to supporters as a laid-back and outgoing character off the pitch.
"The success that he has helped bring to this city will never be forgotten", said Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.
Liverpool have opened physical and digital books of condolence and supporters and members of the public can sign the physical book at Anfield , externalfrom Thursday until Sunday.
Women and children were said to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a tent in southern Gaza
At least 69 people have been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza on Thursday, rescuers say, as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Palestinian territory.
One air strike killed 15 people at a school-turned-shelter for displaced families in Gaza City, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency. The Israeli military said it targeted a "key" Hamas operative based there.
The Civil Defence also reported that 38 people were killed while queueing for aid, or on their way to pick it up. The military said such reports of extensive casualties were "lies".
It comes as pressure mounts on both Israel and Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal being pushed by US President Donald Trump.
Trump announced on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the "necessary conditions" to finalize a 60-day ceasefire. However, there are still obstacles that could prevent a quick agreement.
Hamas has said it is studying the proposals - the details of which have still not been made public - but that it still wants an end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will travel to Washington on Monday, has meanwhile insisted that the Palestinian armed group must be eliminated.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its aircraft had struck around 150 "terror targets" across Gaza over the previous 24 hours, including fighters, tunnels and weapons.
Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said 118 people had been killed during the same period.
Fifteen people, most of them women and children, were killed when a school housing displaced families in the al-Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City was struck before dawn on Thursday, the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency and medics said.
Witness Wafaa al-Arqan told Reuters news agency: "Suddenly, we found the tent collapsing over us and a fire burning... What can we do? Is it fair that all these children burned?"
The IDF said it struck a "key Hamas terrorist" who was operating in a "command-and-control centre" in Gaza City, without mentioning the school.
The IDF added that it took numerous steps to mitigate the risk of harming civilians and accused Hamas of using human shields - an allegation the group has repeatedly denied.
At least another five displaced people were reportedly killed when a tent was struck overnight in the southern al-Mawasi area, where the IDF has told residents of areas affected by its evacuation orders to head for their own safety.
Ashraf Abu Shaba, who lived in a neighbouring tent, said he saw the bodies of children and women wrapped in blankets afterwards.
"The occupation [Israel] claims there are safe zones, but there are no safe zones. Every place is a target... The situation is unbearable," he added.
Later, Civil Defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP news agency that another 38 people were killed by Israeli forces while seeking aid.
He said 25 were killed near the Israeli military's Netzarim corridor in central Gaza. Six died at another location nearby, while seven were killed in the southern Rafah area, he added.
Medics at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis separately told Reuters that at least 20 people were killed while making their way to an aid distribution centre.
There was no direct response to the reports from the IDF.
Reuters
Nasser hospital treated Palestinians men reportedly shot by Israeli forces while seeking aid
Last week, the IDF said it was examining reports of civilians being harmed while approaching sites in southern and central Gaza run by the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
On Thursday, IDF spokesman Brig-Gen Effie Defrin acknowledged at a briefing that Israeli forces were facing a "complex challenge" and drawing "lessons from every incident to prevent similar cases in the future".
But he declared: "The reports of allegations of extensive casualties in the aid distribution centres are lies."
There have been reports of deadly incidents near the distribution sites almost every day since the GHF began operating on 26 May.
According to Gaza's health ministry, at least 408 people have been killed near GHF centres over the past five weeks. Another 175 people have been killed seeking aid elsewhere, including along routes used by UN aid convoys, it says.
The GHF, which uses US private security contractors, said "distribution at all sites ran smoothly" on Thursday and that it had now handed out more than one million boxes of food.
The GHF also rejected as "categorically false" allegations from a former security contractor, who told the BBC that he witnessed colleagues opening fire on civilians waiting for aid.
The UN and other aid groups refuse to co-operate with the GHF, saying its new system contravenes fundamental humanitarian principles.
The US and Israel say the GHF's system will prevent aid being stolen by Hamas.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry.
A stone from the Mauthausen concentration camp now stands outside Hitler's birthplace and reads: "For peace, freedom and democracy. Never again fascism. Millions dead are a warning."
Two streets in Adolf Hitler's hometown in Austria are to be renamed following longstanding complaints that they commemorate Nazis, officials say.
The council of Braunau am Inn made the decision on Wednesday after a "secret vote", according to local media. It followed a report, commissioned by the local government, which concluded that keeping the names was unconstitutional.
The streets are named after composer Josef Reiter and entertainer Franz Resl, both of whom were members of the Nazi party.
About 200 households will get a new address after the names are changed.
The Austrian government has long been criticised by historians for the way it has acknowledged its part in World War Two, and in particular for positioning itself as a victim rather than a participant.
The move to rename the streets has been welcomed as a "decision with symbolic significance" by the committee that oversees the Mauthausen concentration camp in northern Austria, where at least 90,000 prisoners were killed between 1938–1945.
Committee chairman Willi Mernyi told local media that they had "worked hard for this", and thanked all who supported them.
Robert Eiter, a committee member, added that they had suggested the names be changed to honour Austrians who actively opposed the Nazis - former deputy mayor Lea Olczak, whose father died in Mauthausen, and Maria Stromberger, who joined the resistance while working as the head nurse at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
Many streets in Austria have already been renamed due to their Nazi associations, including one honouring Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the luxury car company, in the city of Linz - but 80 years on since the end of the war, others still remain.
Around 65,000 Austrian Jews were killed in the Holocaust during World War Two, when the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler, worked to eradicate Europe's Jewish population, as well as the Slavic and Roma population.
During the war, the Nazi regime systematically murdered more than six million Jewish people.
The United States has held eight migrants at a military base in Djibouti while court cases played out. The federal government sought to deport them to South Sudan.
The well-known Mexican boxer was detained by U.S. immigration agents in California on Wednesday, days after fighting a high-profile contest against the former YouTuber Jake Paul.
Afghanistan has remained largely isolated since the Taliban seized power nearly four years ago, despite subtle signs of increased cooperation with countries like China and India.
The rise of Izz al-Din al-Haddad in the chain of command suggests the group will hold firm to its position demanding a total end to the war before releasing all remaining hostages.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which ran the awards show until a couple of years ago, has voted to investigate the deal that sold the event to a joint venture.
Death of Liverpool forward Jota leaves football world in shock
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Watch Diogo Jota's best career moments
Published
The death of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota in a car crash aged 28 has left the football world in shock.
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, both died after the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed in the Spanish province of Zamora.
BBC Sport has been told the 28-year-old was on his way to return to Liverpool for pre-season training by ferry because he had undergone minor surgery so doctors advised him against flying.
Jota married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children, just 11 days ago.
Liverpool said his death is a "tragedy that transcends" the club, while fans gathered outside Anfield to lay tributes.
Reds manager Arne Slot said Jota was "the essence of what a Liverpool player should be".
BBC Sport understands a wake for Jota and his brother will take place on Friday afternoon before their funeral on Saturday in Porto, Portugal.
Map showing the province of Zamora, in Spain, the highway A-52 and the town of Cernadilla, where Diogo Jota's car crashed
Jota and 25-year-old Silva, also a professional footballer for Portuguese second-tier club Penafiel, were killed after their car left the road because of a tyre blowout that occurred while overtaking another vehicle.
The Guardia Civil told BBC Sport both men died at about 00:30 local time on Thursday.
With Jota intending to return to Liverpool by boat, this is understood to mean he was travelling by car from Porto to take a ferry from Santander in northern Spain.
There are ferry routes from Santander to Plymouth and Portsmouth in the south of England.
Zamora, close to the Portuguese border, is about 190 miles from Porto and a similar distance from the port.
It is understood Jota had also travelled by road and sea to get to Porto for his wedding.
Liverpool and Ronaldo lead tributes
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Media caption,
Some Diogo Jota's best Premier League goals
Liverpool led the tributes to Jota, saying the club was "devastated" by such an "unimaginable loss".
He scored 65 goals in 182 appearances for Liverpool, helping them win the FA Cup and League Cup in 2022 and the Premier League title last season.
The club put out further statements later on Thursday, with boss Slot paying tribute to a player who had become "a loved one to all" at the club.
The Dutchman added: "Someone who made others feel good about themselves just by being with them. A person who cared deeply for his family."
Slot said he last spoke to Jota to congratulate him on Portugal winning the Nations League and wish him luck for his wedding.
"In many ways, it was a dream summer for Diogo and his family, which makes it all the more heartbreaking that it should end like this," he added.
Slot said Liverpool and their supporters are "all with" Jota's family and the "the same can be said of the wider family of football".
A statement from the the club's owners and leadership group, Billy Hogan, John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon, said they have been left "numb with grief" as they offered condolences to Jota's family.
They added: "Beyond the player that we all knew was a wonderfully humble human being, he was sincere, intelligent, funny, tough and created connections with people everywhere he went. He had a zest for life that was utterly contagious."
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes and Fenway Sports Group chief executive of football Michael Edwards said in statement: "This is a tragedy that transcends Liverpool football club."
They added the club will look to honour Jota with the "respect and affection" he deserves in the coming days, but for now "express a love that is filled with deep sorrow and pain" after losing someone "truly irreplaceable".
Jota had previously played for Pacos de Ferreira, Atletico Madrid, Porto and Wolves - for whom he netted 44 goals in 131 games - before joining Liverpool in 2020.
His final match was for Portugal in their Uefa Nations League final win against Spain. He scored 14 goals in 49 internationals.
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo wrote on social media: "It doesn't make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, you had just got married."
Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Ronaldo sent his condolences to Jota's family, wife and children, and added: "I know you will always be with them. Rest in Peace, Diogo e Andre. We will miss you."
Jurgen Klopp, the former Liverpool manager who signed Jota for the Reds, said he was "heartbroken".
"Diogo was not only a fantastic player, but also a great friend, a loving and caring husband and father," the German coach posted on Instagram.
"We will miss you so much."
Fans gather at Anfield
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tributes left by fans at Anfield
Thousands of football fans gathered at Liverpool's home ground Anfield on Thursday to pay their respects.
They laid tributes at the club's Hillsborough disaster memorial, with a sea of flowers, football shirts, scarves, balloons and flags outside the stadium.
Lifelong fan John Barlow from Leyland in Lancashire, a survivor of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, said he was "absolutely devastated" when the news broke and had to stop what he was doing at work to travel to Anfield.
Jota was a fan favourite, respected as a tenacious player on the pitch but also known to supporters as a laid-back and outgoing character off the pitch.
"The success that he has helped bring to this city will never be forgotten", said Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region.
Liverpool have opened physical and digital books of condolence and supporters and members of the public can sign the physical book at Anfield , externalfrom Thursday until Sunday.
The home secretary has said MI5 giving false evidence to multiple courts was a "serious failing", as she accepted a further investigation should take place.
Yvette Cooper, who is responsible for the security service, made a written statement to Parliament a day after the High Court ruled MI5's explanations for its false evidence were deficient and unreliable.
She said the government accepted the High Court's conclusion that a "further, robust and independent investigation" should take place.
A panel of three senior judges, including the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Sue Carr, on Wednesday rejected two official inquiries into the false evidence.
One inquiry was commissioned by Cooper and the other was carried out internally by MI5.
The two reviews took place after the BBC revealed MI5 had lied to three courts in a case concerning a neo-Nazi state agent who abused women. The flawed reviews cleared MI5 of deliberate wrongdoing.
Wednesday's High Court judgement said the new investigation should be carried out under the auspices of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, Sir Brian Leveson, who has oversight of MI5's surveillance activities. His office, IPCO, was also provided with false evidence by MI5 in the case.
The Home Office has refused to answer questions about the position of MI5's third-in-command, the director general strategy, whose witness evidence was found by the High Court to have been neither fair or accurate and to have omitted critical information, which had to be forced out of MI5 by the court.
Cooper did not mention the senior spy in her statement.
She said she remained "deeply concerned" about what happened, and that "internal processes at MI5 must improve, starting with the implementation of all recommendations made so far in relation to this case".
She added that she has asked the Attorney General, Lord Hermer, to conduct an internal review of how "evidence from MI5 should be prepared and presented in future".
"I have asked my officials to review the wider issues raised by this case," she added.
PA Media
The case began in 2022 with an attempt to block the BBC from publishing a story about a neo-Nazi agent known as Agent X. He used his role to coerce and terrify his former girlfriend - known publicly as "Beth" - and had attacked her with a machete.
MI5 gave evidence to three courts, saying that it had never breached its core secrecy policy of neither confirming nor denying (NCND) that X was a state agent.
When we first exposed the abuse by Agent X in 2022, Cooper – then shadow home secretary – said in a BBC interview that the report "showed very disturbing images of abuse, and domestic abuse is a horrible crime".
"I think, given the seriousness of this, the home secretary needs to make sure there is an independent assessment of the handling of this case," she added.
In a statement to Parliament on Thursday, she said she was "unable to comment" on a case against MI5 brought by Beth, involving "accusations that Agent X committed acts of domestic abuse against their partner".
But she added that the government was "clear that all organisations must have robust safeguarding policies under continuous review and must take any allegation of domestic abuse extremely seriously".
British number one Jack Draper's wait for a breakout Wimbledon run continues after a shock second-round defeat by 36-year-old Marin Cilic.
Fourth seed Draper lost 6-4 6-3 1-6 6-4 to Croatia's Cilic, who reached the SW19 final in 2017 but is now ranked 83rd in the world.
It means the 23-year-old Englishman has still not reached the third round in any of his four appearances at the All England Club.
Draper was widely considered as the fourth favourite for the men's title - behind Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
But, in the first Championships of the post-Andy Murray era, Draper has suffered another frustrating early exit.
"Obviously, [I feel] really upset. Probably one of the toughest losses I feel," an emotional Draper told a news conference.
"I thought Cilic played an incredible match from start to finish. [He] didn't let up. He deserved the win."
The US Open semi-finalist was pushed back behind the baseline from the start against Cilic, who dominated the opening two sets with his huge serve and deep returns.
Draper was now in a position which he had never been in before - needing to win a professional match from two sets down.
A drop in Cilic's pace enabled the home favourite to take control of the third set, but Draper still did not look completely comfortable in the fourth as his wily opponent recovered to edge a tense contest.
Heavily puffing his cheeks out as he left Court One was a sign of the difficulties he had endured on a testing evening from which he will hope to learn.
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'The older man making new memories' - Draper falls to veteran Cilic
Coming into his home Grand Slam tournament, Draper insisted he could handle the increased scrutiny of being the nation's greatest hope.
When Draper regained his place as the world number four following a run to the Queen's semi-finals, it was a significant moment.
As fourth seed at Wimbledon, it meant he was guaranteed to avoid world number one Sinner or two-time defending champion Alcaraz – the heavy favourites for the title - until at least the semi-finals.
Draper, however, was quick to urge caution about placing too much importance on the seeding until the draw was made - and he was right.
But the looming figure of Cilic was always likely to be more problematic.
Draper had the racquet taken out of his hand in the opening two sets as Cilic executed his gameplan perfectly.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Cilic's heavy-hitting game led to 53 winners against Draper
Playing with depth from the baseline to push Draper back, particularly putting scrutiny on his opponent's backhand, worked a treat.
Draper was unable to get into position to execute his forehand and, although finding his first serve helped survive three break points at 4-3 down, he finally lost serve at the end of the opening set.
With the clouds gathering overhead, and the atmosphere becoming gloomier, Draper lost serve again early and it proved to be the decisive break in the second set.
Draper is still waiting for his Murray moment at Wimbledon – the one where he achieves the impossible at the All England Club and causes waves across the nation during a primetime summer slot.
Murray-mania exploded when the Scot fought back from two sets down against Richard Gasquet in 2008.
If Draper had turned things around against Cilic, it could have been a similar type of moment for him.
There was a brief glimmer of hope as Draper was able to use his forehand to greater effect in the third set, but any hopes of a memorable comeback were extinguished when he was broken again while serving to stay in the match.
'Incredible' emotions for Cilic after injury ordeal
When Cilic's name appeared in Draper's section in the Wimbledon draw, it felt like a potential problem for the Briton.
The 6ft 6in Croat claimed his sole Grand Slam title at the 2014 US Open, but has dropped down the rankings after a serious knee injury two years ago.
A second operation in May last year could have spelt the end of Cilic's career.
But he has showed great perseverance to return to the sport and, while many veteran players would have perhaps been ready to quit, he dropped down to the second-tier ATP Challenger to rebuild.
Winning the Nottingham title last month was a sign that the former world number three could still perform well on the grass.
Few people, however, would have expected him to beat Draper.
"My emotions are just incredible. Where I was two years ago, I can't even describe. It has been a long journey," Cilic said.
"It was a long and testing period, plus a huge challenge for me in this part of my career to come back and play at this level."
Hollywood actor Michael Madsen died in his California home on Thursday morning, US media reported. He was 67.
He was found unresponsive by authorities responding to a 911 call at his Malibu home and pronounced dead at 08:25 local time (BST), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He is believed to have died of cardiac arrest, according to a representative.
Madsen was a prolific actor, best known for his roles in Quentin Tarantino movies Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, The Hateful Eight and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In one of the seminal movies of the 1990s, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Madsen played psychotic thief Mr Blonde, who shocked audiences in a scene where he cut off a policeman's ear.
During a career spanning four decades, Madsen also took on a number of tv roles.
In both tv and film, he often portrayed the law enforcers like sheriffs and detectives, as well as the law breakers, such as a washed-out hitman in the Kill Bill franchise.
In recent years, he lent his voices to video games, including Grand Theft Auto III and the Dishonored series.
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