Armed personnel from an American security contractor will man the checkpoint and will be responsible for inspecting vehicles entering northern Gaza. Palestinians returning to northern Gaza on foot will not be inspected, according to the terms of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli forces are set to complete their withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza on Saturday, which will allow displaced residents of northern Gaza to return to their homes – or what remains of them.

Named after the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim in Gaza, the corridor was constructed by Israeli forces to create a strategic, central road intersecting the strip.

Israeli media have reported that a security contractor named UG Solutions will deploy personnel to the checkpoint. Another American firm, Safe Reach Solutions, is reportedly involved in the planning and logistics for the checkpoint.

Neither firm has an extensive online footprint. On its website, Safe Reach Solutions says it provides “planning, logistics, and strategic expertise to organizations operating in the world’s most complex environments.”

Israel has long mulled various plans to deploy private American contractors to safeguard aid shipments in Gaza or to establish humanitarian zones that have been fully cleared of Hamas militants.

None of those plans has ever come to fruition, but the contractor-manned checkpoint could be a key test of the viability of deploying private contractors in Gaza.

Israel says it has received a list of four female hostages Hamas is due to release on Saturday as part of a ceasefire deal.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that the list was received through mediators and added that Israel’s response would be provided later.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A rare “stay at home” warning has been issued for parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland as a severe storm lashes the region, bringing dangerous 100mph (160 kmh) winds and unleashing travel chaos.

Storm Éowyn, an extratropical “bomb” cyclone that has formed in the North Atlantic and intensified rapidly, has hit rail services, delayed flights and forced road closures.

The strongest winds and most significant impacts are expected in Northern Ireland and central and southwestern parts of Scotland, according to the UK’s Met Office. A red weather warning was established Friday morning local time in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland.

A yellow warning for snow is also in force through Friday for northern and central areas of Scotland. While accumulations are possible over high ground, it’s likely to shift to sleet and rain at lower levels through the day, the Met Office said.

Currently more than 93,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland are without power, according to the Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) Networks. “Restoration efforts will take significant time as crews cannot begin to work until it is safe to do so,” the supplier said.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill has given a “stay at home” warning to residents, telling BBC Radio Ulster that they are now “in the eye of the storm.”

According to Met Éireann, Ireland’s Meteorological Service, a gust of 113 mph was recorded at Mace Head Co. Galway at 5 a.m. local time — provisionally the strongest gust speed ever recorded in the country.

All schools in Ireland and Northern Ireland were closed on Friday, while hundreds were also shuttered across Scotland, with Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney also warning against travel.

Public transport has been severely disrupted by the storm. Train operator ScotRail has suspended all services across Scotland on Friday, saying it “would not be safe to operate passenger services.”

Other rail services affected by the storm include Avanti West Coast, LNER, West Midlands Railway, Lumo, Transport for Wales and South Western Railway.

Many flights have been canceled in the region. More than 1,070 flights scheduled to operate from the UK and Ireland were called off on Friday, the UK’s PA Media reported.

Dublin Airport announced later Friday that flights had recommenced from its runways after winds had “eased somewhat,” however it could not rule out further cancellations throughout the day.

Meanwhile motorists in areas where red and amber weather warnings are in place have been advised against non-essential travel.

Social media platforms were awash with images of the damage caused by Storm Éowyn. Dublin Fire Brigade posted a photo of collapsed scaffolding in an inner city Dublin suburb, saying that the road is “completely blocked.”

Another image shared by the fire brigade showed supermarket shelves almost completely emptied of bread.

A photo taken in Durham county, in England’s north east, shows an overturned lorry after it ran into trouble in high winds on a major road.

In Ireland’s Galway harbour city, trees that had stood for over 60 years were uprooted by the storm, locals said.

“(I) got woken up before the red alert even started, the winds were crazy,” sports scientist Cathriona Heffernan, 25, from Galway, said.

“Those trees have been there 60 years and outdate the houses even. It’s sad seeing them down all the same but just glad no damage was caused by them.”

Éowyn is expected to move away from the UK on Saturday, although yellow wind warnings are in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland for Saturday morning and early afternoon.

Ambrogio Volonté, a senior research fellow at the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, warned Storm Éowyn could “rival the ferocity” of Storm Eunice in 2022 and Storm Ciarán in 2023, “both of which sadly claimed lives and left behind severe damage.”

Leach said Éowyn is an extratropical bomb cyclone that has formed in the North Atlantic and “intensified extremely rapidly.”

He said bomb cyclones are typically the most impactful winter storms in Northern Europe.

While Leach said the impacts of the climate crisis on extratropical cyclones remain uncertain, some studies suggest the most severe storms may be getting stronger with climate change.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that “the crisis in Ukraine” might have been prevented if Donald Trump was in power at the time, saying he was ready to talk with the new US president about the conflict.

Trump has long claimed that the war in Ukraine would not have happened under his watch, but Friday marked the first time Putin suggested the same thing – while also repeating Trump’s false claim that the 2020 US election was “stolen.”

“I can’t help but agree with (Trump) that if his victory had not been stolen in 2020, then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that arose in 2022,” Putin told a Russian TV channel, presumably referring to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine which he himself had ordered in February 2022.

Trump has said in the past that he would end the war in Ukraine in one day, but then gave his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg 100 days to find a solution.

The new administration has so far not unveiled any concrete plan for how to achieve peace in Ukraine, but Trump said this week that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had told him he wants to make a deal and suggested Putin should also want to find a solution.

“So, I think Russia should want to make a deal. Maybe they want to make a deal. I think from what I hear, Putin would like to see me. We’ll meet as soon as we can. I’d meet immediately. Every day we don’t meet soldiers are being killed in a battlefield,” Trump told reporters on Thursday.

Putin seemed amenable to meeting Trump, saying Russia was “always open to this.”

“As for the issue related to negotiations – we have always said, and I will emphasize this once again, that we are ready for negotiations on the Ukrainian issue,” the Russian leader told the Russian TV channel. A day earlier the Kremlin said it was waiting on “signals” from Washington.

The statement from Putin came a day after Trump made a threat of new sanctions against Moscow while addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos.

However, Putin questioned that warning on Friday, saying such a move would hurt the American economy. “He is not only a smart person, he is a pragmatic person, and I can hardly imagine that decisions will be made that will harm the American economy itself,” Putin said.

Thirteen-year-old Zakariya Barbakh had spent most of his life shuffling between hospitals across Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel.

Born without a lung, he had struggled to breathe. Doctors had predicted he would need a transplant if he were to reach adulthood. But the last 15 months of war in Gaza had made that impossible.

When the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect on Sunday, Zakariya was ecstatic.

“Mom, now we can go look for my lungs!” his mother recalled him saying.

Less than 24 hours later, Zakariya was shot dead.

“He didn’t die from his disease; he ended up dying at the hands of the occupation. All he wanted was to have lungs to breathe, what did he do to deserve this? What did this child do?” his mother said, unable to hold back tears.

Zakariya is one of at least four Palestinians shot by the Israeli military since the ceasefire went into effect.

The Israeli military has withdrawn to buffer zones along Gaza’s border, but has warned Palestinians against approaching areas where its troops are still stationed. It has published a map of zones that are “very dangerous” to approach.

But where those zones begin and end is not always as clear on the ground.

“How would he know he would face occupation forces? How would he know he was in the wrong area? All he did was try to find something to eat. He got lost along the way. Can you not see the way this child looks? He looks sick and despairing,” his mother said.

The video shows a man trying to drag Zakariya’s lifeless body before he too is shot. The man survived

News that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal triggered celebrations across the Strip last Wednesday. But in several areas those celebrations were soon drowned out by the sound of Israeli airstrikes.

In the four days between when the deal was announced and when it went into effect on Sunday morning, Israeli attacks killed at least 142 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Civil Defense, including dozens of women and children.

Among them were members of 3-year-old As’ad Khalifa’s family.

Less than 24 hours after the ceasefire deal was announced, an Israeli airstrike targeted his home.

As’ad survived, but in an instant, he became an orphan. His parents and sister were killed in the strike.

Dallou knew the family as they had been displaced by the war at the same time. He went searching for them under the rubble with other neighbors. Using basic equipment and their bare hands, they were able to uncover and retrieve the dead bodies of the mother and father but the children remained missing.

Before they gave up, they heard the cries of a child and began frantically throwing aside blocks of cement until they reached the source.

After a grueling 30 minutes, they found a small hand reaching out amid the rubble and gripping the air. They were able to pull the child – As’ad – out, roughed up and covered in dust – but alive. His little sister was found dead next to him.

Dallou and his sister Mawada have since taken him in.

“The IDF took intelligence measures to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals,” the statement added.

Dallou has children of similar age to As’ad, which has helped to integrate him into their family. But he is concerned about how As’ad will grow up.

“I know from my experience with my little daughter that this child is going through a difficult psychological state. They are petrified from any sound now …They start crying for their mother,” he said.

Mawada said that because she knew As’ad’s mother, she would do everything she can to embrace him.

“We will try, but we will not be able to replace his mother or bring her back.”

US President Donald Trump’s policy on Ukraine is a little scattered and meandering, and at times misinformed. But be in no doubt that it exists and seems an unanticipated priority.

Trump’s policy on Ukraine distinguishes itself in two ways in the first week of his administration.

The first is his persistent criticism of the economic damage the Kremlin head is doing to Russia. Trump is making a business case for a peace deal, telling Russian President Vladimir Putin he needs to make a pact for financial reasons.

This may misread Putin’s apparent pathological commitment to victory, and the broad existential nature of the conflict for Moscow in the eyes of its propagandists. They see this as a war against the entirety of NATO that they must win. The propaganda taps of Russian state media can be turned off as well as on. But Russia’s mindset is radicalized where the West’s is not. It’s not a business case of quarterly profit and loss for the Kremlin, but one of survival.

The second is how regularly Trump talks of the war after excluding it — and any mention of Ukraine and Russia — from his inauguration speech on Monday. He correctly suggested Thursday a lower oil price could impede Russia’s ability to wage war. Russia sells oil to China and India to keep its war machine going, despite sanctions aimed at reducing its revenue.

Trump said he would talk to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, whose troops are fighting for Moscow now in Kursk. He also correctly suggested Beijing has great influence over Moscow and could force a peace deal upon them.

Again, Trump is approaching the conflict from his comfort zone: one where everyone is seeking a smooth deal that makes them richer. China may seek calm, and perhaps ultimately wish the Ukraine conflict had never begun. But that is not the reality of now, and instead Xi Jinping is treading a delicate path: watching his ally Moscow degrade their military and economy to the extent they become Beijing’s junior partner, while also realising Russia cannot lose the fight without a knock-on impact to China’s global ambitions.

The calculations made now by America’s adversaries concern the world order over the coming decade, not the immediate telephone call sheet of the White House, or how fast slick interpersonal dealings might wrap up the biggest land conflict in Europe since the 1940s.

Trump’s repeated call for NATO’s European members to pay more for defense – an unlikely demand of 2% of GDP rising to 5% – has even been echoed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is correct to state this is Europe’s war. If Kyiv loses, Poland, the Baltics, Romania and Moldova will feel the heat, not Florida or California. Even NATO’s head, Mark Rutte, has suggested Europe might buy arms for Ukraine from the United States. Trump was always going to challenge the cost of the war to Washington, and speedily Europe is being backed into a corner to step up.

It is also intriguing to see Trump talk of the damage the war has done. He said incorrectly Thursday millions had died on both sides. Kyiv has said 43,000 Ukrainian troops have died. The UN says about 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have died.

Western officials say regularly Russia’s losses amount to 700,000 dead and injured, and independent media have tracked nearly 100,000 public records that suggest Russian military deaths on the battlefield.

Yet Trump’s incorrect, emotional reference to millions may be aimed at evoking the urgency and horror of the war in the minds of an American audience for whom it is a side issue rarely discussed.

Trump said he could bring peace to Ukraine in 24 hours, which was always a wild rhetorical exaggeration. Even the six months now evoked is optimistic. But he has taken office seized with a wobbly yet vivid grasp of the war’s issues. That may falter, as he slowly realizes a deal is not low hanging fruit and his adversaries – because that is what Putin is, however “great” Trump says they get along – are more patient, enduring and conniving than he is.

But his opening week has done much to dispel the greater fear from Ukraine and its allies that Trump preferred coziness with Putin to NATO’s unity. Or that his wild and unrealistic promises of diplomacy from the campaign trail would evaporate – along with funding for the war – the moment he came to office. This may all still happen, and the road ahead for Trump is deeply complex and fraught with rivals who have years more experience in the job, and much more to lose or gain.

But Trump is seized of the issue, has an emotional albeit shaky grasp of the war’s horrors, and is critical of, not fawning towards, Putin. It’s yet another unforeseen turn in a conflict ruled by the unexpected.

Hours after Donald Trump’s chilly inauguration in Washington, Taiwan’s parliament voted to freeze billions of dollars in defense spending, in a move some worry could frustrate the famously transactional president, who has already demanded Taipei pay “more” for US protection.

The US is the main ally and arms supplier of Taiwan, a democratically ruled island and semiconductor powerhouse, which China’s Communist Party views as part of its territory –despite never having controlled it – and has vowed to take one day, by force if necessary.

The opposition-led vote to freeze defense spending highlights the domestic challenges facing Taiwan President Lai Ching-te even as China ramps up its diplomatic and military efforts to isolate and intimidate the island.

Lai’s party lacks a majority in Taiwan’s rough and tumble parliament, throwing doubt on his ability to pass legislation that will shore up US support – and the approval of a mercurial commander in chief in the White House.

“If there is not enough budget to consistently improve Taiwan’s defense reforms and capabilities, the international community will doubt Taiwan’s determination to defend ourselves,” Lai said Tuesday in a Facebook post.

Lai’s administration also slammed the opposition-backed budget freeze, which covers locally designed submarines and an indigenous drone program.

The move was “suicidal,” Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai told reporters on Thursday, while Defense Minister Wellington Koo said it sent “the wrong signal to the United States.”

Navigating Trump 2.0

Trump’s return to power – and his “America First” agenda – has created some anxiety in Taiwan about Washington’s commitment to the island in the event of a Chinese invasion.

For decades, the US has maintained a close security partnership with Taipei, despite lacking formal diplomatic relations. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, the US is legally obligated to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. However, Washington has remained deliberately vague on how it would respond to an invasion – a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”

Last year, US intelligence assessments suggested that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had ordered his military to be ready for an invasion by 2027, though assessments stressed that doesn’t mean an invasion will occur in 2027.

Days before Trump took office, Taiwan’s defense ministry made a rare acknowledgement that Washington had signed a two-year agreement to train Taiwanese soldiers at a naval base on the island. While Taiwan has previously confirmed the presence of US military trainers, it was unusual for the military to release details of such exchanges.

But Trump has been a less vocal supporter of Taiwan than his predecessor Joe Biden. Last year, he wrongly accused Taiwan of stealing “almost 100%” of America’s semiconductor industry. He also indicated that Taiwan should pay more for US protection, while suggesting the US would have difficulty defending the island because of its distance.

“I hope that Taiwan’s legislature doesn’t embarrass itself and lose face to foreign countries,” said Wang Cheng-yi, a postgraduate student at National Taiwan University. “This might make people feel that while Taiwan is good at certain things, politically it is quite unstable.”

For Ms. Hsu, a 75-year-old Taipei resident who only gave her surname, the key to fostering political unity is simple.

“Everybody should sit down and talk,” she said. “Taiwan must balance relations with both the US and China. We are small. We cannot afford to make either big brother unhappy. It’s a delicate situation.”

Military readiness

While Taipei is heavily armed with US weaponry, it is significantly outmatched by Beijing, which has the world’s largest standing army and spends about 11 times more on defense than Taiwan.

There are also concerns among defense experts about the effectiveness of Taiwan’s reservist training and the military’s slow progress in transitioning to asymmetric warfare – a strategy that focuses on smaller, harder-to-detect weapons like drones and portable missiles. While Taipei has accelerated military reforms in recent years, some observers – including the Council on Foreign Affairs – say it needs to do far more.

And it’s not just Taiwan’s military facing budget challenges.

Earlier this week, undersea cables connecting Taiwan to the outlying Matsu islands were severed due to “natural deterioration,” according to the island’s digital affairs ministry. The islands – controlled by Taipei but located just a few miles off the Chinese coast – previously experienced internet outages after the same cables were damaged in 2023.

The ministry warned that new budget cuts – which covered everything from health care to foreign affairs – would undermine its ability to repair critical infrastructure, highlighting concerns about vulnerabilities that could be exploited by Beijing.

Alexander Huang, head of international affairs for the main opposition Kuomintang party, defended the freeze on defense spending and questioned the effectiveness of investing heavily in a submarine program before the first vessel had even completed sea trials.

But Wei-Ting Yen, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, said it was “extra bad” that Taiwan’s domestic political bickering had hindered the island from presenting a united message to the Trump team that it was serious about its defense and worthy of continued American support.

“With or without Trump’s inauguration, with China’s increasing aggression over Taiwan, it is indeed Taiwan’s top priority to continue to increase its self-defense budget,” Yen said. “That’s definitely not a good signal.”

Yeh Hsin-wei, a student in Taipei, said Taiwan’s vast semiconductor industry that supplies many of the chips powering the global AI revolution was a better deterrent against Beijing.

The sound of gunfire and explosions filled the air as residents of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank hauled their belongings down the muddy pathway.

Smoke billowed from multiple areas in the camp’s Al-Hadaf neighborhood, while a bulldozer razed a building in the distance and Israeli military convoys drove past nearby.

Either way, the men, women, children and elderly trudging through the mud-soaked pathways said they had no choice but to flee the camp, a sprawling area of narrow alleys that has long been a bastion of militant factions and is now front and center of the IDF’s Operation “Iron Wall.”

Israel launched the operation two days after the first stage of the Gaza ceasefire began, saying it was aimed at eliminating “terrorists and terror infrastructure” and “ensuring that terrorism does not return to the camp after the operation is over – the first lesson from the method of repeated raids in Gaza.”

On Friday, the Israeli military said it had killed “more than 10 terrorists, arrested about 20 wanted individuals, and confiscated many other weapons and ammunition” during its operation in Jenin.

But rights groups have raised concerns that fleeing civilians have been caught in the crossfire.

Some of those now fleeing the camp said Israeli drones carrying loudspeakers had ordered them to leave, then guided them out.

Mousa Al-Sharaa, 45, fled Thursday with his elderly mother, who he had to carry at times as they left the camp on foot.

The streets were empty as they left and the Israeli army was “spread around everywhere,” he said.

Some residents said the military had told them they could return in seven days. Others said troops had told them they could not return at all.

Asked if he would return, Al-Sharaa said soldiers had warned him against the idea.

“They told us: don’t come back, we’ll make a boom out of the whole camp,” he said.

Khawla Asaad, 55, who was born in the camp, said she had evacuated four days ago amid heavy gunfire and was now staying with a friend nearby.

There had been no water or electricity for days before she left, she said, adding that most other people had left too.

As the Israeli operation continued into its fourth day, Thameen Al-Kheetan, the spokesman for the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights, said the commission was deeply concerned by the “use of unlawful lethal force” in Jenin, including “multiple airstrikes and apparently random shooting at unarmed residents attempting to flee or find safety.”

The UNHCR said it had verified that at least 12 Palestinians had been killed and 40 injured by Israeli security forces since Tuesday, most of them reportedly unarmed.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, the UN said, Israeli security forces had “shut down entrances to major Palestinian cities such as Hebron, closed checkpoints, and initiated long, individual searches of vehicles at those that remained open.”

In 2002, the Israeli military occupied the camp after 10 days of intensive fighting, according to the UN, during which time more than 400 houses were destroyed and over a quarter of the camp’s population was displaced.

Whispers rippled through the court in the moments before Prince Harry’s lawyer sensationally revealed a settlement had been reached with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

But for those at London’s High Court on Wednesday, the 11th-hour drama hadn’t been entirely unexpected.

Rumblings emerged the day before, on what should have been the first day of the trial over alleged unlawful information gathering. But repeated adjournments prevented proceedings from even starting.

Harry and his fellow claimant, ex-Labour Party politician Tom Watson, later heralded the agreement as a “monumental victory,” after receiving an full apology from News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World.

“NGN offers a full and unequivocal apology to the Duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion by The Sun between 1996 and 2011 into his private life, including incidents of unlawful activities carried out by private investigators working for The Sun,” it said in a lengthy statement.

The publisher also apologized to Harry for various invasions of privacy through illegal practices by journalists and private investigators working for the News of the World, which shut in 2011.

For those watching at home, the settlement seemed like an unexpected about-face from the 40-year-old royal who had previously been so resolute about seeing the case through.

After all, Harry recently reiterated his position, telling a New York Times summit last month that he was “the last person that can actually achieve” accountability, as legal costs had pushed so many others pursuing similar claims to settle, and the duke wanted to help them get “closure.”

Civil cases are designed to be settled out of court. The tabloid group has paid huge sums to victims of phone hacking and other illegal activities carried out by the News of the World, and settled claims brought by more than 1,300 people.

Harry had been willing to continue despite the potentially hefty costs as the case reflected his more deeply personal mission: seeking truth and accountability.

He has also relentlessly pursued a wider war against tabloid newspapers in the United Kingdom, launching civil actions against multiple publishers here, because he wants to help change the country’s media landscape.

For Harry, the invasion of privacy goes back to his childhood. He has often recalled watching his mother suffer from it, before he experienced it himself and then felt his wife had been forced to endure it, too. Getting NGN to include an apology referencing “the extensive coverage and serious intrusion” into Diana’s private life will probably have been incredibly meaningful to him.

Speaking outside the court afterward, Harry’s co-claimant in the suit, former deputy Labour Party leader Watson, described the royal as a “predator” taking on the “big beast of the tabloid jungle.” He praised the duke for “unwavering support and determination under extraordinary pressure.”

But in achieving the settlement, Harry may have felt that he got as much and gone as far as he could through civil avenues. He’s walking away with NGN’s extensive apology and hefty damages – understood to be an eight-figure total sum for both claimants.

Had the trial got underway, the duke’s legal team was set to argue that illegal techniques were widespread at the NGN tabloids and claim that the practices were well-known by executives and senior staff who allowed them to continue.

The settlement led the judge to vacate the trial, meaning those allegations will now not be tested. NGN has previously and continues to reject any claims of a cover-up or destruction of evidence.

“This matter was also investigated fully by the police and CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) between 2012-2015, at the conclusion of which it was found that there was no case to answer,” a spokesperson for NGN said in a statement.

Whether or not a fresh police investigation follows, as Harry and Watson hope, will be the big question in the days and weeks ahead. Watson said outside court that their dossier of information would be passed to authorities.

Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said in an interview on LBC Radio on Friday that “much of the material in the civil litigation actually came from those (previous) investigations” before adding that it would review any material sent to the force.

Theto Ngobeni was just 18 days old when doctors first inserted a shunt into the back of her head to drain excess fluid accumulating in her brain.

She was born with a condition known as hydrocephalus, which doctors said was caused by a listeriosis infection that her mother contracted while pregnant.

Now seven, Theto has already had six operations to replace her shunt due to infections and blockages. Hospital bills have depleted the family of five’s medical insurance cover, forcing them to sell their house to cover mounting debts.

“We are still owing the hospital a lot of money, we are still owing the bank a lot of money,” said Theto’s mother, Montlha, who herself had to have a double hip replacement at 37 because of the listeriosis infection. “It’s very difficult and we are on our own. No one is helping us.”

Listeriosis is a foodborne disease caused by listeria bacteria. It can lead to serious illness in high-risk groups, including the elderly, infants and pregnant women. Pregnant women can transmit the infection to their unborn babies, potentially leading to lifelong health problems with the brain, kidneys or heart.

Montlha is one of more than 1,000 people infected in South Africa between January 2017 and mid-2018 in what the World Health Organization declared the world’s largest ever listeriosis outbreak. Recorded deaths totaled at least 216, including 93 newborns under a month old and nine children age 14 and under, according to South Africa’s Department of Health.

Others affected were, like Theto, infants in utero, left with serious health complications, including cerebral palsy and other neurological difficulties.

In March 2018, South African health officials linked the outbreak to ready-to-eat meats, mainly polony, produced at an Enterprise Foods facility then owned by Tiger Brands, the country’s biggest food producer.

The contaminated products had likely been manufactured and sold for more than a year by that point, based on a timeline of the outbreak given by South Africa’s health department.

Following the health department’s findings, the company temporarily closed the factory, located in the city of Polokwane north of Johannesburg, as well as two other sites in Germiston and Pretoria. It also recalled its ready-to-eat meat products, pledging to address any “valid claims which may be made against it in due course.”

Almost seven years on, a class action lawsuit brought against it on behalf of Montlha and more than 1,000 other plaintiffs has yet to be resolved, despite evidence gathered by local health officials tying the outbreak to the Enterprise Foods plant and products.

Based on that evidence, the lawsuit claims that the plaintiffs “contracted listeriosis and suffered harm” after eating contaminated products produced by Tiger Brands, allegations the company denies in legal filings.

Tiger Brands maintains that “liability has not yet been determined.”

Alleged Boar’s Head victims could see compensation sooner

Last year, the United States experienced its own deadly listeria outbreak linked to deli meats produced by Boar’s Head, a well-known delicatessen brand that sells ready-to-eat meats and cheeses in supermarkets throughout the country.

Ten people died and 61 were sickened after eating the contaminated products, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Federal health officials declared the outbreak over in November, but the company is now facing multiple lawsuits connected to the outbreak.

In a letter to customers in September, Boar’s Head apologized for the listeria contamination of its liverwurst product and said it was taking “comprehensive measures… to prevent such an incident from ever happening again.”

Bill Marler, co-founder of US food safety law firm Marler Clark, is representing around two dozen individuals in cases against the company. A leading foodborne illness attorney, he has also consulted with RSI on the Tiger Brands case.

Marler suggests that if the South African listeriosis outbreak had happened in the US, the company responsible would likely be made to pay between $1 billion and 2 billion in damages. By comparison, Tiger Brands, if found responsible for the outbreak by a judge, may be on the hook for just 2 billion rand ($106 million), according to initial estimates by lawyers bringing the class action suit.

“It was really clear in 2018 that the cause of this outbreak was the Tiger Brands plant and it was the polony,” Marler alleged.

“Nothing has changed, other than that there’s been six years, almost seven, where the victims of this have been left with nothing. I think that is a travesty.”

Health officials claim ‘conclusive evidence’

The case made by RSI relies heavily on specialized genetic testing done by South Africa’s CDC equivalent, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). Known as whole genome sequencing, it matched the same strain of listeria found in the Enterprise Foods Polokwane plant and products to the strain found in the majority of people who were sickened.

Dr. Juno Thomas, the head of the NICD’s Centre for Enteric Diseases, likened the testing to “DNA fingerprinting” that allowed the institute to compare the bacteria from patients, contaminated food and the factory “and ascertain with a great deal of precision whether they match exactly.”

The common presence of the so-called “outbreak strain” amounted to “conclusive evidence of the source of the outbreak,” she told reporters in March 2018. The NICD did not identify that same strain at any other meat processing facilities in South Africa.

In a statement the following month, Tiger Brands acknowledged that its own tests had also found that same strain of listeria in a sample of ready-to-eat meat products from the Enterprise Foods facility in Polokwane.

Malusi, of RSI, disputes that, saying the results of the NICD’s whole genome sequencing tests have long been made available to Tiger Brands and amount to “all the necessary evidence” to connect the company to the outbreak.

Tiger Brands must ‘take accountability’

As the legal process rumbles on, Montlha says she is desperate for Tiger Brands to “do the right thing.”

“Our innocent kids are struggling for something they did not eat. (Tiger Brands) owes us an apology and then compensation,” she added.

Nthabiseng Ramanamane shares that sentiment. Ramanamane, who is another of the claimants in the class action seeking compensation from Tiger Brands, contracted listeriosis while pregnant, allegedly after eating polony manufactured by the company.

Her son, Onkarabile, was born more than two months premature with cerebral palsy.

Now seven, he is unable to perform even the most basic functions, such as feeding himself, sitting up unassisted or turning himself over at night. He requires adult diapers and a special diet. Like Theto, he has endured several operations in his short life.

“I was a frequent buyer of (Tiger Brands) products. I loved the cold meats and I regarded them as safe,” Ramanamane said. “Little did I know that it’s going to cost my entire life and it’s going to literally steal the life of my son.”