There are “hopes” that the end of the “dark chapter” is near with the announcement of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas, the Guardian reports. “Weary Palestinians hardly dare to believe the news”, the newspaper says, with pictures of celebrations in Deir al-Balah in Gaza splashed across the front page.
According to the front page of The Times, “Both sides are celebrating the ceasefire”, with photos of people celebrating the announcement in both Gaza and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. The agreement, which the newspaper says was “held up by last-minute debate” over the extent of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, “will come into force on Sunday”.
But, says the Financial Times, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “the deal is not finalized yet”, with some details still needing to be finalised. The newspaper says the “multiphase agreement” will lead to a calm in hostilities, the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.
And while an agreement “offers hope for an end to the bloodiest period of fighting in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, I argue that “the seeds of new conflicts have been sown”.
The Daily Express features testimony from “heartbroken nurses” who describe “painful scenes of dying patients being crammed into hospital corridors”. The paper is based on a new report compiled by the Royal College of Nursing which it says “highlights the scale of the crisis engulfing the NHS”, with one nurse saying working in a hospital is “like watching a horror movie. Is.” Don’t wait”.
The Daily Mail says, “This report exposes the shocking reality of ‘inhumane’ hospital conditions.” It says, “Dead patients lie unseen for hours in A&E because NHS staff are too overwhelmed to attend to them”, and that a shortage of beds means patients are being kept in “hospital car parks, Being left in ‘animal-like’ conditions in cupboards and toilets”.
According to the Daily Mirror, this “chaos in hospital corridors” is the result of “ten years of healthcare cuts”. It features an image of patients “lining in the corridor” of a hospital in Blackburn last week. The newspaper quoted the head of the Royal College of Nursing as saying: “I have no doubt that this is costing people lives.” Tributes were also paid to singer Linda Nolan, whose death was announced on Wednesday, with the newspaper saying she was “with her sisters to the end”.
The Metro calls it a “double injustice”, revealing that Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for rape, “still has not received compensation”. Helen Pitcher, the head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, resigned on Tuesday “after twice refusing to let her appeal against his conviction”. Malkinson said the verdict left him with a “feeling of vindication”, the newspaper reported.
According to Thursday’s Daily Telegraph, there are “growing questions” for the Attorney General over his relationship with former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams and his role in a decision under which he received “taxpayer-funded payments” while in prison. It is possible , The newspaper says Lord Harmer has defended his right to represent Adams in the past, but refuses to say whether he was involved in the compensation decision.
The Sun is stepping up its investigation into what it claims is a rapper “promoted by the BBC” who is the killer of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen. It said the rapper is TEN Jake Fahri, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2009, and was told he would serve a minimum of 14 years for the crime. The newspaper says TEN’s music “which glorifies knife deaths has recently been featured on BBC Radio 1Xtra”.
And the Daily Star says it has “the answer to the question you didn’t know you needed to know” – the best way to eat a Cadbury Creme Egg. The newspaper joked that the discovery took “years and years of introspection and heated debate… like three minutes of idle conversation on a news desk, to be completely honest.”
