In today’s newsletter: Israel’s offensive has resulted in thousands of casualties and severe restrictions on aid, and signals a potential long-term territorial and political shift

Good morning. On Tuesday, Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, announced a major expansion of attacks on Gaza and the “capture of large areas that will be added to the security zones of the state of Israel”.

The announcement followed a night of airstrikes on Khan Younis and Rafah in southern Gaza, which officials said had killed at least 21 people, including a pregnant woman. The intensification of Israel’s offensive comes after more than two weeks of airstrikes and ground operations that have, according to Gaza’s health ministry, killed more than 900 people. Unicef has said that at least 322 of those killed since the renewed attacks have been children.

UK economy | Donald Trump has hit the UK with tariffs of 10% on exports to the US as he ignited a global trade war. Other tariffs include 20% on the EU and 34% on China. Downing Street had been expecting 20% but Keir Starmer’s conciliation towards the Trump administration appeared to have paid off.

Immigration | An investigation has been launched after a racist message was reportedly “blasted out” on portable radios used by Home Office contractors at an asylum processing centre. The deeply offensive broadcast – “fuck off you [N-word]s, go back to where you came from” – was reportedly heard at the Manston processing site for small boat arrivals in Kent.

Health | Doctors have reported a rise in the number of patients with Victorian diseases such as scabies, as the Royal College of Physicians urged the government to do more to fight poverty.

UK news | A third former South Yorkshire police officer has been arrested as part of an investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. The ex-constable, aged in his 50s, was arrested on Monday on suspicion of raping a teenage girl in the town in 2004.

Education | The fate of boys “is a defining issue of our time”, according to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, as she calls for more men to become teachers to combat “toxic” behaviours.

Alaa Abu Zeid only discovered his wife and children had been killed after his release from an Israeli prison. His is a story repeated across Gaza

• ‘They don’t want them to know anything’: Gaza civilians held in Israel not told families had been killed

More than a year after his abduction by Israeli soldiers, the first thing Alaa Abu Zeid wanted to do on his return to Gaza was hold his wife and children. He didn’t know that Ali, his brother, would be the only person waiting when he arrived in Khan Younis earlier this month: Alaa’s wife, Hala, and all five of the couple’s children had been killed in an Israeli airstrike last summer.

Abu Zeid, 48, the headteacher of a primary school funded by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in Bureij in central Gaza, was arrested along with dozens of other men when Israeli troops raided the school turned shelter in December 2023. He would never see his family again.