Fresh Gaza strikes amid soldier hunt

2 August 2014 Last updated at 12:16

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Fresh strikes are taking place amid the hunt for the missing soldier, as Martin Patience reports

Israel has carried out fresh attacks on Gaza and militants have launched more rockets into Israel as a hunt continues for a missing Israeli soldier.

Palestinian officials said 55 people had died in Israeli strikes on Saturday, most in Rafah, where the soldier, Hadar Goldin, went missing.

A series of rocket attacks into Israel was reported on Saturday morning.

Some 1,655 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 65 Israelis, all but two soldiers, have died in the conflict.

A Thai worker was also killed in Israel. Some 8,900 Palestinians have also been injured, the health ministry in Gaza says.

A 72-hour ceasefire had been agreed, starting from Friday morning, but collapsed hours later.

Hamas accused Israel of breaking the ceasefire but the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had been forced to respond to militant rocket fire.

On Saturday, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi insisted an Egyptian ceasefire plan offered a "real chance" to end the bloodshed.

'Time is decisive'

Palestinian officials said that there had been a series of Israeli air strikes around Rafah since midnight, killing at least 35 people.

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The BBC's Bethany Bell in Israel says there is an "enormous sense of solidarity" with soldiers on the front line as the hunt for Lt Goldin continues

They said that across Gaza overnight, 40 homes, three mosques and the Islamic University were hit.

The IDF said the university housed a "weapons development centre".

Israeli media said that after a relatively quiet night, a number of rockets had been fired on Saturday morning, including at Tel Aviv.

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which controls Gaza, said it had fired three rockets at Tel Aviv.

At least two were reportedly shot down by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

Egypt's state-run news agency Mena reported on Saturday that Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza had been reopened for humanitarian reasons, to help the casualties.

Mr Sisi, in a news conference, said: "The Egyptian proposal is the real chance to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed.

"Time is decisive, we have to take advantage of it quickly to douse the fire... and to stop the bloodshed of Palestinians."

Qassam Brigades' statement

The Qassam Brigades meanwhile said it had no information about the fate of 2nd Lt Hadar Goldin, 23.

Israel said he may have been captured during an ambush in which two other soldiers were killed.

In a statement early on Saturday, the Qassam Brigades said it lost contact with a group of fighters in the area where the soldier went missing, saying: "We believe they were all killed in the [Israeli] bombardment.

"Assuming that they managed to seize the soldier during combat, we assess that he was also killed in the incident."

US President Barack Obama on Friday called for the release of Lt Goldin.

Mr Obama said: "If [Hamas] are serious about trying to trying to resolve this situation, that soldier needs to be unconditionally released, as soon as possible."

The capture of soldiers is a particular concern for Israeli authorities. Conscript Gilad Shalit was held for five years before being exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Mr Obama also urged the protection of civilians.

He said: "We have been clear that innocent civilians in Gaza caught in the crossfire have to weigh on our conscience and we have to do more to protect them."

The US Congress on Friday passed a $225m (£134m) bill to help restock Israel's Iron Dome defence system.

Israel began an aerial campaign on 8 July with the intention of halting rocket attacks from Gaza, and later launched ground operations to target rocket launching sites and tunnels use by militants to infiltrate Israel.

There have been numerous attempts to hold ceasefires but none have lasted, with both sides accusing each other of breaking the truces.

Are you in Gaza or Israel? Have you been affected by the violence? You can send us your views and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "Gaza Israel". If you are willing to feature in an interview, please ensure you include your contact details and a photograph of yourself to help us illustrate the story.

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Australian pair abandon Down's baby

2 August 2014 Last updated at 03:59

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The surrogate mother tells ABC News: "I love him, he's like my child now"

A campaign for a baby with Down's Syndrome left with his surrogate Thai mother by an Australian couple has raised over $120,000 (£70,000).

The six-month-old boy, named Gammy, also has a congenital heart condition and needs urgent medical treatment.

Pattaramon Chanbua was left to care for him after his Australian parents only wanted his healthy twin sister.

She was paid $15,000 (£9,000) to be a surrogate for the couple, whose identities remain unknown.

Mrs Pattaramon was told of the child's condition four months after becoming pregnant and the couple asked her to have an abortion but she refused, saying it was against her Buddhist beliefs.

The 21-year-old, who already has two children, says she cannot afford to pay for the expensive treatment to deal with his life-threatening heart condition.

"The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, we can repay our debt," she told Australia's ABC broadcaster.

Thai newspaper Thairath published Gammy's story last week and an online campaign to raise money for his treatment was launched shortly afterwards.

So far hundreds of people have donated more than $120,000 (£70,000) towards the fund's $150,000 (£90,000) target.

'Horrible neglect!'

There were also dozens of messages of support for Gammy and her mother, and several expressing outrage at the Australian couple's actions.

"May this selfish and heartless couple be exposed and shamed for this horrible neglect!" one comment read.

A spokesman for Australia's foreign affairs department told the AFP news agency it was "concerned" by the reports and was in consultation with Thai authorities over surrogacy issues.

Tares Krassanairawiwong, a Thai health official, said it was illegal to pay for surrogacy in Thailand.

"Surrogacy can be done in Thailand but it has to comply with the laws. A surrogate has to be related to the intended parents and no money can be involved."

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Body parts of a man found at plant

2 August 2014 Last updated at 11:48

Body parts of a man found at a Bristol recycling plant may have come with waste from Swindon, police have said.

Police were called to the Biffa depot in Avonmouth at 11:00 BST on Friday after being alerted by staff to possible remains at one of the units.

Avon and Somerset police said his death was being treated as unexplained but the body may have been transported with commercial waste collected in Swindon

A post-mortem examination is due to be carried out later.

The man is thought to be in his 30s.

A police cordon remains in place while specialist officers carry out investigations at the recycling plant.

Det Ch Insp Gareth Bevan said officers were "following several lines of inquiry" to establish the circumstances surrounding the man's death.

"Police inquiries so far suggest the body was transported with commercial recycling waste collected in Swindon and therefore the focus of the investigation will be in that area going forward," he said.

"The investigation is at an early stage and we are keeping an open mind about the circumstances leading to this man's death."

Police confirmed the remains were believed to be male, but that it was too early to say how long the body parts had been there.

The victim has yet to be identified, police said.

Biffa is one of the country's leading waste management companies, disposing of rubbish from commercial, industrial and public sector organisations.

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Israel action 'foolish' - Ashdown

2 August 2014 Last updated at 11:51

The ex-leader of the Liberal Democrats has called Israel's attacks on Gaza "foolish" and "disproportionate".

And Lord Ashdown was joined by Deputy PM Nick Clegg, who called for peace talks and an end to the violence.

The UK is sending a further £3m for aid in Gaza - bringing its total to £13m.

It comes after a short-lived ceasefire collapsed amid mutual recriminations and a former defence minister became the latest Tory MP to call on No 10 to take a firmer stance on the crisis.

Peter Luff said Israel's actions were "brutal" and "difficult to justify".

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said both sides had to act proportionately and that agreeing a ceasefire was priority.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Lord Ashdown said neither Israel nor Palestine could "blast their way to victory" and that the only way forward was for them to "sit down and talk to each other".

Lord Ashdown said negotiations between Israel and Hamas may not be pleasant, but he compared the situation to the conflicts in Bosnia and Northern Ireland where peace deals were brokered.

"In Bosnia particularly, you had to talk to very unpleasant people," he said.

"[Former Serbian president Slobodan] Milosevic was not the kind of person you would invite round to dinner but you had to talk to him."

Lord Ashdown, formerly the UK's special representative in Bosnia, said Israel had been "very foolish" to launch its military strikes given it had the "best anti-missile system in the world".

He said Israel had lost the "support and sympathy of world opinion".

Had UK troops in Afghanistan or Northern Ireland retaliated to civilian attacks and fired back, they would have been "guilty of a crime", he said.

'Tunnels to terrorise'

The former Lib Dem leader echoed comments by the current party leader Mr Clegg, who said Israel's action "appeared disproportionate".

Writing in the Guardian, he said: "If Israel wants to secure lasting safety for its people, it must use political will, not military might, to break the cycle of violence."

He also criticised Hamas, saying it used its tunnels to "terrorise Israeli civilians".

The UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire, intended to last 72 hours, ended on Friday after less than five hours, with both sides blaming each other.

Scores of people have reportedly been killed in fresh clashes while Israeli forces are searching for a soldier believed to have been captured.

The soldier has been named as Hadar Goldin, 23, although Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied capturing a soldier.

Foreign Secretary Mr Hammond said a human ceasefire was "urgently" needed.

Meanwhile, International Development Secretary Justine Greening described the situation in Gaza as "nothing short of a humanitarian catastrophe".

The further £3m being sent to the warzone is to allow a rapid response by aid workers.

Israel has said it is defending itself from attacks by Palestinian militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths in Gaza, saying fighters deliberately operate from civilian areas.

'Unacceptable'

Elsewhere, Tory MP Mr Luff, who was a defence minister between 2010 and 2012, said the Israeli government had an "absolute right" to protect its people from rocket attacks from Hamas militants, but the reported death toll of more than 1,500 Gaza residents - including hundreds of children - was unacceptable.

Other Tory MPs to raise concerns in recent days included former Foreign Office minister Alastair Burt and Margot James, a parliamentary aide to Commons leader William Hague.

Since Israel began its offensive in Gaza on 8 July, more than 1,420 Palestinians have been killed and 8,265 injured, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry.

Israel says it will not stop its operation in Gaza until all the tunnels, which militants use to infiltrate Israeli territory, have been destroyed. Hamas has called on Israel to lift its blockade of the territory.

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BA to continue flying over Iraq

2 August 2014 Last updated at 13:04

British Airways flights will continue to fly over Iraq despite concerns over the threat of Islamic militants on the ground, its chief executive has said.

Willie Walsh told the Financial Times: "We fly over Iraq because we consider it safe. If we thought Iraq was unsafe we would not fly over Iraq."

Qantas has become the latest airline to say it will divert planes to avoid flying through Iraqi airspace.

BA said it would be reviewing its decision on a daily basis.

The airline said flights from the UK to destinations including Dubai and Doha would normally cross Iraqi airspace.

Fresh focus

"Our flight plans vary depending on a number of factors but our highest and first priority is always the safety of our crew and customers," BA said in a statement.

Mr Walsh told the FT some customers would find it "confusing" that airlines had taken different positions on Iraq.

But he said airlines should be able to carry out their own risk assessments about flying over warzones because they had different operations and aircraft.

There is fresh focus on the routes taken by airlines following the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine last month.

British Airways has been avoiding the airspace over eastern Ukraine for several months.

Analysis: Theo Leggett, Business reporter, BBC News

The loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 has focused attention on the decisions made by carriers when it comes to flying over conflict zones.

Safety is always a top priority. No reputable airline would knowingly put the lives of its passengers in danger.

That said, diverting aircraft around a particular country can take longer and use more fuel, depending on the route taken and the weather conditions. Ultimately, that costs money.

Unless regulators step in, it is up to the airlines themselves to analyse the risks and decide whether a diversion is justified, based on their own information and the advice they receive.

Sometimes, they come to different decisions. However, after MH17 there will be a greater emphasis on caution than ever before.

Sovereign rights

On Thursday, America's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told US airlines to fly above 30,000ft (9.1km) over Iraq.

It had previously told them to fly above 20,000ft (6.1km).

Australian airline Qantas said in a statement on Saturday it had "closely monitored the issue of flight paths over conflict zones, particularly in light of the MH17 tragedy, with safety our first priority".

It said it had "no new information that alters our safety assessment of flying over Iraq, especially given the altitudes we maintain over this region".

"However, given the various restrictions imposed by different governments in the past 24 hours, including by the United States' FAA, Qantas has temporarily rerouted its flights within the Middle East to avoid Iraqi airspace.

"The flight path adjustment applies to services between Dubai and London and is not expected to significantly increase flight times on this route."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

I think we have something of a cobweb approach to the management of safe airspace "

End Quote John Strickland Independent aviation consultant

On Friday, German airline Lufthansa suspended flights over the country.

Others, including Emirates Air Line, Virgin Atlantic and Air France, began diverting flights earlier this week.

Virgin confirmed in a statement it was "not currently flying" over Iraq, adding "safety and security is our top priority".

Militants with the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isis) group have captured large areas of northern and western Iraq, including the country's second-largest city, Mosul.

This week, independent aviation consultant John Strickland told BBC Two's Newsnight there was "a cobweb approach to the management of safe airspace".

Governments had "sovereign rights to close airspace above their territories", he added.

"Governments, whether its their own airspace or not, can give advisory guidance to airlines about what to do.

"We have industry bodies, we have airlines with their own intelligence - particularly those larger global airlines who have local staff in a whole host of places around the world.

"But it isn't a hard and fast rule."

'Vital questions'

Jim McAuslan, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), meanwhile, told Newsnight: "Our concern is that, in the balance of the equation, some airlines might be making decisions based on some financial or commercial consideration - rather than purely flight safety - simply to save six minutes on a flight and six minutes extra fuel burn."

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The incident shows that there are gaps in the overall management of airspace"

End Quote Jeff Poole Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation

Last week, Balpa warned that safety assessments for risky air routes were "not good enough", saying there must be "a uniform level of safety, not one decided in secret".

It called for "global leadership" from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in flight operations in or over areas of hostility.

On Tuesday, at a meeting of world aviation chiefs in Montreal, Canada, Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (Canso) director general Jeff Poole said: "The downing of flight MH17 raises vital questions about the safety of aircraft over conflict zones.

"The incident shows that there are gaps in the overall management of airspace."

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner came down on 17 July while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

Rebels in Ukraine deny accusations from the West that they shot the plane down with a missile.

Embassy closed

On Wednesday, meanwhile, British Airways suspended flights to and from Tripoli up to and including 5 August due to the security situation in Libya.

The country has been gripped by instability since the uprising in 2011.

More than 200 people have been killed in Tripoli and Benghazi in the past two weeks.

Britain is to temporarily close its embassy in the Libyan capital and the UK Foreign Office has urged Britons to leave the country immediately.

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Immigration inspector John Vine quits

1 August 2014 Last updated at 12:58

The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, John Vine, is resigning from his post.

Mr Vine had been due to step down in July 2015 when his term ended but will now leave on 31 December this year.

During his six years in the role, his office issued more than 50 inspection reports, some of which were highly critical of the immigration system.

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson said the Home Office had tried to silence Mr Vine's criticisms.

'Indictment'

He said Mr Vine had brought a "rigorous and determined approach to the role of scrutinising our borders" and "highlighted flaws in the Home Secretary's immigration regime".

His departure, Mr Hanson said, was "an indictment of [Home Secretary] Theresa May's attempts to silence his criticisms of her failing immigration system".

Mrs May thanked Mr Vine "for his hard work and dedication in scrutinising the vital work of controlling immigration and protecting Britain's borders".

Mr Vine will publish his final annual inspection report in December, which will cover the period 2013/14.

Alongside the reports, the inspector has also made almost 500 recommendations.

Among his findings:

• In October 2013 he said the Home Office's multi-million pound e-borders scheme had failed to meet its promises. He said staff at airports were not stopping those with terrorist alerts against them on arrival, and "not one person" had been stopped boarding a plane to the UK

• He discovered in 2012 that the Home Office had a "migration refusal pool" - people whose temporary or permanent migration application had been refused but whose whereabouts were unknown to the authorities

• In November 2012 he accused the UK Border Agency of supplying inaccurate information to MPs about the backlog of asylum cases and said Parliament had received incorrect assurances about moves to address this.

Correspondents say Mr Vine had become frustrated that the Home Office had changed the timing of the publication of his reports.

Previously they were released at midnight, ensuring more media coverage, but now they are published during the day.

Mr Hanson said: "It's a real shame that the home secretary's increasing manipulation of the release of his reports to try to hide her failures has clearly led to his frustration and ultimately resignation from the role."

Mr Vine said this was not the reason he had resigned but said he had "raised my concerns with the change in publication processes with the home secretary and the Home Affairs Committee".

Analysis

Danny Shaw, home affairs correspondent, BBC News

For six years, John Vine painted a bleak picture of Britain's border and immigration controls. His reports were a severe embarrassment for a government that had pledged to bring down net migration and restore order to the system.

Until January this year, Mr Vine determined when his reports were released - usually with an embargo time that suited newspapers and broadcasters, ensuring maximum coverage.

Then the Home Office decided it would control the publication times, with reports put out at short notice and sometimes grouped together. The result was less publicity.

Publicly, John Vine says that's not the reason he's quitting. But there's a sense that frustration with the new arrangements may well have played a part.

Mr Vine said he now wanted a new challenge.

"Leaving at the end of the year and before the next general election, rather than in July 2015 when my term is due to end, makes sense."

Mr Vine said he was "proud" of establishing the inspectorate, which had been "a catalyst for significant change and improvement across the UK's border and immigration functions".

He had previously agreed two extensions to his original term of office.

Mr Hanson said: "John Vine enjoyed cross party support in his independent role and his successor will have a tough job to follow his thorough and expert analysis of our borders, and it is vital the home secretary doesn't simply appoint someone who will seek not to upset her."

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said Mr Vine had done "outstanding work in holding to account those who manage our borders and immigration service".

He said: "When Mr Vine last appeared before the committee we were very concerned about the number of reports that he had produced which had not been published by the Home Office. All of these must be released immediately."

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Rolf Harris challenges conviction

1 August 2014 Last updated at 11:55

Entertainer Rolf Harris has applied for permission to appeal against his conviction for indecent assaults, a spokesman for the Judicial Office says.

Harris, 84, was jailed in July for five years and nine months for 12 indecent assaults on four girls aged between seven or eight and 19.

The Judicial Office said his lawyers had lodged papers at the Court of Appeal.

A judge will now decide if his appeal bid should progress to a full hearing.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Jeremy Wright decided not to refer Harris's sentence to the Court of Appeal despite 150 complaints over its "leniency".

Mr Wright said he did not think judges would find it to be unduly lenient and increase it.

Catalogue of abuse

Harris, an artist, TV presenter and musician, was found guilty of all 12 indecent assaults of which he was accused in his trial at Southwark Crown Court in London.

His victims included a young autograph hunter, two girls in their early teens and a friend of his daughter's against whom he committed a catalogue of abuse over several years.

The offences took place between 1968 and 1986.

Harris has been stripped of a Bafta fellowship and accolades in his native Australia. He also faces losing his CBE.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed it has received "a number of allegations" about Harris since his conviction, which are being investigated.

The BBC's home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, said it was unlikely that Harris's application for permission to appeal would be dealt with in the next few weeks.

"We are looking at a possible decision or possible hearing in the autumn," he said.

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MH17 crash investigators get to work

1 August 2014 Last updated at 12:23

A team of 70 Dutch and Australian forensic experts has finally got to work at the site of the flight MH17 crash in east Ukraine.

They arrived in a convoy with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors and began setting up a base in a farm.

Australia believes that around 80 bodies remain at the site.

Fighting still rages in the region, with 10 Ukrainian soldiers killed in a rebel ambush on Thursday.

Continue reading the main story

The stench of death is still there"

End Quote Michael Bociurkiw OSCE spokesman at crash site

The fighting had previously prevented the investigators reaching the area where the Malaysia Airlines jet came down on 17 July with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew.

But after Ukraine's military declared a unilateral one-day suspension of operations against the rebels in Donetsk region on Thursday, an exploratory visit was made, followed up by the full deployment on Friday.

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Tom Burridge in Kiev: "Taking control of Donetsk from rebels will be a difficult task"

It is now unclear whether Ukraine's army or separatist forces control the site, as fighting continues nearby, the BBC's Tom, Burridge reports from Kharkiv.

On Thursday a rebel delegation held talks with officials from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE in Minsk, capital of Belarus. The talks are to resume next week, the OSCE said in a statement.

'Stench of death'

The investigators travelled in 16 vehicles to the crash site, outside the village of Grabove, AP news agency reports.

By midday, they had begun setting up base at a chicken farm while artillery fire could be heard periodically somewhere in the distance, AP says.

In a tweet, the OSCE said the investigators had been bolstered by "new assets", an apparent reference to two vans marked with red crosses.

Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the investigation at the crash scene, said on the Dutch justice ministry's website: "If human remains are found during the search, they will be recovered instantly."

It is believed that remains and debris were scattered over a 35 sq km (13.5 sq mile) of countryside, to the east of the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

Regional OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw, who visited the site previously, said that despite reports of tampering with evidence, it looked much the same as when his team had last seen it, nearly a week ago.

"Everything is still more or less the way we saw it," he told Boston's NPR news station by phone.

"In some ways it is remarkable in the sense that, two weeks into this, there are many parts that haven't been touched," he said, speaking on Thursday.

"The stench of death is still there," he added. "It is very hot today."

Most of the bodies were recovered earlier by local search teams and were flown to the Netherlands, where most of the victims came from.

More than 1,500 people are believed to have been killed in the conflict which erupted in east Ukraine in April, after separatists declared independence from the new government in Kiev.

Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March, has been accused of arming the rebels and has been targeted by US and EU sanctions.

'Overwhelming enemy forces'

The rebels say they destroyed more than 30 vehicles in the ambush while unverified video shows bodies around a burning vehicle.

Vladyslav Seleznyov, spokesman for Ukraine's "anti-terrorist operation", said a unit of paratroopers had been ambushed on Thursday while moving to a new position.

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The BBC's Jonathan Beale: "It's mostly the poor, the helpless and the old that have been left behind"

Paratroopers had fought back and inflicted "significant losses" on their attackers, he said.

Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky confirmed that 10 soldiers had been killed while a further four bodies had yet to be identified.

A Ukrainian TV station, Channel 112, said the attack had happened during the night and 20 paratroopers had been killed.

Meanwhile, the Donetsk rebels' news agency said on Twitter that an "enemy" column had been "repulsed" and three soldiers from Ukraine's 25th Air Mobile Brigade had been taken prisoner.

Graphic amateur video published on YouTube, and dated 31 July, shows a burning military vehicle with charred and mangled bodies scattered nearby. The dead soldiers are said to be from the 25th Brigade.

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Five officers face Jayden inquiry

1 August 2014 Last updated at 12:15

Five police officers have been served with misconduct notices over the inquiry into the murder of Oxfordshire teenager Jayden Parkinson.

Thames Valley Police's response to reports she was missing is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Jayden's ex-boyfriend Ben Blakeley, 22, was convicted on 24 July of her murder.

The teenager was strangled and her body buried in a grave in Didcot last December.

The investigation focuses on the officers' actions between 4 and 12 December.

Jayden, 17, was reported missing just after midnight on 4 December.

'Indecent images'

IPCC investigators confirmed she was considered to be a medium risk missing person for the first week of her disappearance. She was found dead on 18 December.

The IPCC is examining what information was available to the officers who arrested and interviewed Blakeley later on 4 December over an allegation he had taken indecent images of Jayden.

The police complaints body is also looking at whether the officers were aware Jayden had been reported missing at that stage.

Blakeley, 22, from Reading, was subsequently released on bail and on 10 December Jayden was re-categorised as a high risk missing person.

Blakeley was arrested by Thames Valley Police (TVP) officers on suspicion of kidnapping Jayden the following day and later released on bail.

The missing person investigation was transferred to the force's major crime team on 12 December and Blakeley was arrested on suspicion of murder.

Interviews with the officers given misconduct notices are taking place, the IPCC said.

A TVP spokesperson said: "TVP referred the matter to the IPCC on 14 December and an independent investigation began.

"Due to the IPCC's ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate for TVP to comment at this time."

Blakeley was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years by a judge at Oxford Crown Court.

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Militants 'seize Israeli soldier'

1 August 2014 Last updated at 13:04

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Martin Patience in Gaza: ''There is surprise that it has crumbled after just four-and-a-half hours''

Israeli forces are searching for a soldier believed captured, as a Gaza truce with Hamas collapsed just hours after it began.

The Israeli military said the soldier went missing during an attack on forces trying to destroy a tunnel from Gaza built by militants into Israel.

Israel and Hamas accused each other of breaching the 72-hour ceasefire.

Palestinian sources said at least 35 people were killed by Israeli shelling in the southern town of Rafah.

In 2006 Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, who was held for five years until November 2011. He was released in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied the latest capture.

Some 1,460 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the latest conflict and 63 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

The ceasefire had been brokered by the US and UN to give civilians a reprieve from the violence, and had been seen as an unforeseen breakthrough after days of diplomatic deadlock.

Also on Friday, Palestinian and Israeli delegations arrived in Cairo, Egypt, with the hope of negotiating a longer-term cessation of hostilities, but Egyptian officials said the talks had now been postponed.

Analysis: Martin Patience, BBC News, Gaza

The clashes in Rafah came just four hours into what was meant be a 72-hour ceasefire, reinforcing just how difficult it is to get truces to last beyond a very short time. Both sides will have expected such violations.

While it held, much of Gaza was relatively quiet compared to the violence in recent weeks. The streets were slowly returning back to life as shops began to reopen. People had been taking the opportunity to stock up on much-needed supplies.

A steady stream of cars headed towards evacuated neighbourhoods close to the Israeli border. People here want to see if their houses are still standing and to try to salvage what's left of their belongings.

The BBC's Bethany Bell, in Jerusalem, says there had been enormous international pressure for a 72-hour lull to allow people in Gaza to bury their dead and restock with food.

During the morning life appeared to be returning to some kind of normality in Gaza, with many Palestinians heading towards heavily shelled areas to see if their homes were still intact.

But the Gaza health ministry reported that at least 35 Palestinians were killed and up to 100 injured in an Israeli attack near the southern town of Rafah after the ceasefire began.

A senior Israeli official said Hamas had breached the ceasefire and Israel's response would be "crushing".

Earlier, Israeli foreign affairs spokesman Yigal Palmor told the BBC that Israeli forces had retaliated after being attacked in what seemed like a planned move by Hamas.

"There was a full-scale attack on an Israeli unit and this unit had to respond," he said.

"After it responded, Hamas started firing rockets on Israeli territory again and therefore the fighting resumed all along the line.

But Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoun said: "The Israelis are the ones who breached the ceasefire, and the Palestinian resistance acted in a way that ensures its right of self-defence."

Another Hamas official said the announcement of the soldier's capture was "a justification for Israel retreating from the truth and a cover-up for massacres".

Palestinian media reported that Hamas had called for a "day of anger" across the West Bank.

Ceasefires timeline

• Saturday, 26 July: 12-hour humanitarian truce observed by both sides from 05:00 GMT (08:00 local time) till 17:00 GMT
• Israeli cabinet agrees four-hour extension until 21:00 GMT while it considers UN request for 24-hour extension, but continues operation against "terrorist" tunnels
• Hamas rejects extension to 21:00 GMT because it wants "complete" stop to fighting and end to Gaza blockade
• Israel announces extension of ceasefire for 24 hours till 21:00 GMT on Sunday
• Sunday, 27 July: Israel resumes operation in response to "incessant rocket fire" from Gaza. Hamas declares 24-hour truce, but continues rocket fire, and Israel rejects ceasefire
• Friday 1st August: Israel and Hamas agree 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire from 05:00 GMT, but Israel resumes operations within hours accusing Hamas of violations

Gaza-Israel conflict: What is the fighting about?

Gaza crisis: Toll of operations in Gaza

Are you in Gaza or Israel? Have you been affected by the violence? You can send us your views and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "Gaza Israel". If you are willing to feature in an interview, please ensure you include your contact details and a photograph of yourself to help us illustrate the story.

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