German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, pictured in June in the Oval Office, said drone incidents “threaten our safety” as his government put forward legislation to allow the shooting down of drones after a series of in recent weeks disrupted flights across Europe. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 8 (UPI) — Federal authorities in Germany were granted permission to shoot down drones following a series of recent sightings of unknown drones spotted near Munich.
The German government’s cabinet on Wednesday signed-off on the new reform package that now awaits approval of the Bundestag, the country’s parliament.
The move came after drones were seen at Munich Airport last week, which led to air traffic control suspensions and thousands of flights impacted directly.
“Drone incidents threaten our safety,” said Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Germany now joins Britain, France, Romania and Lithuania in extending police powers to down the flying objects.
“We will not allow that,” Merz, leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, said Wednesday on social media.
“We are strengthening the powers of the federal police so that drones can be detected and intercepted more quickly in future,” he added.
In addition, other rogue drones have been detected in Denmark, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia, Poland and Romania that have interrupted air traffic on the continent in recent weeks.
Officials in Denmark purport it to be a “professional” act by an unknown actor but other European Union leaders, including Merz, have pointed to Russia as the culprit.
Moscow, however, has denied the allegations.
It followed a similar pattern of unexplained drone flights earlier this year in the United States.
Meanwhile, authorities announced Wednesday that Russian drones attacked and seriously damaged a Ukrainian thermal power plant overnight in Russia’s escalating war in Ukraine and eastern Europe.
Herut Nimrodi says she is clinging to hope that her son Tamir is “still hanging on” two years after his abduction
The mother of an Israeli man taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023 says she still does not know if her son is dead or alive, but has “real hope” that US President Donald Trump’s peace plan will bring the return of all the hostages held in Gaza.
Herut Nimrodi told BBC News she was “fearing the worst” for her son Tamir, a non-combat soldier, but she was clinging to hope that “he’s still hanging on” two years after his abduction.
She said he was the only Israeli hostage whose family had not been told if they were alive or dead.
The peace plan proposed by Trump has been gaining momentum, with indirect talks expected to continue on Tuesday between Hamas and Israel to end the war and return the hostages.
“They have been trying to create an agreement for a while but it didn’t take off. This time it feels different,” Ms Nimrodi said. “There is real hope that this is the one, this is the last deal.”
She said it was particularly important that all hostages – living and dead – would be released in the plan’s first phase.
“This is huge, this is a blessing for us,” she said.
“It’s urgent to release the hostages – those that are still alive, and even the ones that have passed. We don’t know what state their bodies are in. We have to release them so the families have some kind of closure. Even the families that got the message that their loved ones are deceased, they don’t accept it because they need proof.”
Tamir Nimrodi pictured with his mother and other family members
The last time she saw her son was in a video of his abduction posted on social media on 7 October 2023.
“My youngest daughter – she was 14 at the time – came screaming that she had seen her brother being abducted on Instagram,” she recalled.
“I saw Tamir wearing his pyjamas. He was barefoot. He had no glasses on. He can hardly see without them. He was terrified.”
Since seeing her son – an education officer in the Israeli military who was 18 at the time – forced into a jeep and driven away, “fading away into Gaza”, she has received no signs of life.
“He’s the only Israeli with no indication about what happened or where exactly he is,” she said.
The fate of a Nepalese hostage, Bipin Joshi, is also unknown.
Like other families the BBC has spoken to whose relatives were killed or kidnapped that day, Ms Nimrodi said life had been frozen for two years.
“People ask me: ‘It’s been two years, how are you holding on?’ And I say, ‘It doesn’t feel like two years. It feels like one long exhausting day’,” she said.
That day two years ago was the deadliest in Israel’s history, when some 1,200 people were killed by armed men from Hamas and other groups, and 251 others taken hostage, most from southern communities and a music festival.
The attacks sparked a war in which more than 67,000 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli military action, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Almost the entire population has been displaced and much of its infrastructure flattened.
Family handout
Ms Nimrodi says Tamir messaged her about “non-stop” rockets on the morning of 7 October
Ms Nimrodi said she was at her home near Tel Aviv when she received a message from Tamir early on 7 October 2023 from his post at the northern side of the Gaza border.
“He said ‘there are rockets and it’s non-stop’,” she recalled.
Tamir told her he would return soon to the family home, as he usually would during such moments because of his non-combat role.
“I told him to take good care of himself and text me whenever he can and he said he would try. Those were the last words between us. It was 06:49 in the morning, and I found out later on that 20 minutes after our last message he was taken away,” she said.
She has been lobbying for her son’s return, including at rallies with other hostage families.
But she said there were also days when she “can’t get out of bed”.
“I try to listen to my body – what can I do? How much strength do I have?”
The momentum behind the peace plan has brought some hope for the remaining hostage families that their loved ones could soon be returned home.
Ms Nimrodi joined tens of thousands of people – including the families of hostages, and former hostages themselves – who had gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to call for the deal to be implemented.
She wore a T-shirt with her son’s photo on the front, smiling and bespectacled.
“I believe in this deal, and I believe that Trump will not let this slip away,” she said, as she called on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do the right thing – bring the hostages home and bring peace to this region”.
She said that when she tried to sleep that night, she would be met with the “terrified look” in her son’s eyes as he was abducted, which plays in her head every day.
“To hope for two years – it’s absolutely exhausting.”
Abubakar Ibrahim woke one morning in June to find his leg swelling. By nightfall, the entire limb was ballooned and throbbing, leaving the 30-year-old terrified.
“I took some drugs to reduce the swelling, but my legs continued to swell,” said the indigene of Malabu in Adamawa State, northeastern Nigeria.
Within weeks, rashes had turned to sores, and he realised he was facing the same mysterious flesh-eating disease that had already struck his elder brother and neighbours.
Like many others in Malabu, he assumed the disease was a flesh infection treatable with antibiotics and bandages. He went to the primary healthcare centre in the community, where the sores were cleaned and dressed. He started to recover, describing his situation as mild, compared to others like his brother, who had their flesh falling out.
While some residents sought help at the primary healthcare centre, others resorted to traditional herbs. Over time, Abubakar noticed the situation worsening across the community. The disease spread faster, and those affected often died within two weeks of their first symptoms. People complained of intense pain, sleepless nights, and a foul odour from the infected wounds.
An outbreak
HumAngle learnt that the first suspected case of the disease was reported at the Malabu Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) in 2018, when a man developed swelling in his hand. Within months, rashes formed, then blisters, which turned into sores. His flesh eventually tore away until the bones became visible. He died.
“We never thought it was something that would come to affect some of us,” Abubakar said.
Soon after the man’s death, a few residents began to experience similar symptoms, starting with swelling in either their hands or legs. Many relied on the PHC for wound cleaning and dressing, which offered some relief. But as new cases appeared, conditions deteriorated.
Residents say that a few people continued to exhibit the symptoms over time, but not in large numbers, until the recent mass outbreak in June this year, and it spread rapidly in the following month. No fewer than 67 persons have contracted the disease since the recent outbreak, according to Alhaji Sajo, a community leader, with eight deaths recorded so far.
Although adult men have been the most affected, residents told HumAngle that children have not been spared, unlike during previous outbreaks.
“Most of the children that are currently affected are around the age of seven and above,” Abubakar stated. He added that the situation for children is worse. Unlike adults, who mostly get infected in their hands and legs, Abubakar explained that the affected children have sores covering part of their faces that continue to spread and eat into their faces.
To contain the spread of the disease, the local health authorities identified about 28 critical cases in Malabu and have since transferred eight of the affected persons to the Multi Drug Resistance (MDR) ward at the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital (MAUTH) in Yola, the state capital, while the other 20 declined.
Residents told HumAngle that histology tests have been conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). “They said our samples would be taken for testing in laboratories […], according to them, the disease is not cancer,” Abubakar said, adding that Malabu residents have remained restless. “We need to figure out the cause of the disease and how it can be treated.”
One of the patients admitted at MAUTH died a few days later. Photo: Saduwo Banyawa/HumAngle
Dr. Dahiru Ribadu, the chairperson of the Medical Advisory Committee at MAUTH, said the patients are undergoing treatment under close observation.
“We are taking care of them the best way we can, and they don’t pay for the drugs or meals because it’s being covered by the local government,” he told HumAngle, adding that even though the disease remains unnamed, admitted patients are responding well to treatment.
Abubakar’s elder brother was among those admitted, but he died days later. While he describes his brother’s case as critical, Abubakar has accepted fate and now tends to his own wounds at home. His greatest concern, he says, is to finally know what this disease is and how it can be stopped.
Non-contagious?
At the hospital, frontline staff are also grappling with uncertainty. Mary Jacob, the nursing officer in charge of the MDR ward at MAUTH, told HumAngle that the patients were brought in on Sept. 4. “There is no diagnosis. We are waiting for the investigation,” she said, noting that the hospital cannot give a proper account of the ailment so far, as it’s a rare one.
The nurse suggested that the disease might be non-contagious, since many relatives caring for patients remain unaffected. However, she warned that it could spread through open wounds.
“If someone has the disease and there is another person who has a cut on their skin and they touch them, then it can be transmitted through the cut,” she said. Mary noted that one of their biggest challenges at the MDR ward is managing the deep wounds, which require large amounts of bandages and gloves every day.
While the hospital can only manage symptoms, state health officials say they are working with national authorities to uncover the cause. Felix Tangwami, the state Commissioner for Health and Human Services, suggested that the disease might be Buruli ulcer. Tangwami stressed that, while they await official results from the National Reference Laboratory, the state government, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, is taking steps to curb the spread.
Buruli ulcer is a neglected tropical disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, a bacterium from the same family that causes tuberculosis and leprosy. It often begins as painless swelling or nodules on the skin, which later break down into large ulcers that can expose bones and lead to severe disability if untreated.
The World Health Organisation has documented thousands of cases, mainly in West and Central Africa, with outbreaks reported in countries including Nigeria.
This wider pattern underscores why health officials in Adamawa are racing to confirm whether the Malabu outbreak is linked to Buruli ulcer. After the first samples were collected, Abubakar said that some NCDC officials returned three days later to take new swabs in Malabu. “They made provisions for some drugs and items for wound dressing at the PHC,” he said.
In the meantime, residents are left anxious.
“I want people to know that this disease is not just currently in Malabu alone, even though it started here. At the moment, other communities around Malabu have started recording cases, which means the disease is spreading,” Abubakar added.
HumAngle reached out to the NCDC for details on the state of its investigation, but is yet to receive a response at the time of filing this report.
As Israel displaces thousands from the north of the enclave, concerns are growing about worsening conditions in the south.
Thousands of Palestinians are being displaced each day by Israel’s indiscriminate carpet bombing of Gaza City, which is killing dozens of civilians daily, with families fleeing south towards an uncertain fate in the repeatedly attacked and overcrowded al-Mawasi.
More than 6,000 people were forced to leave the besieged city on Saturday, according to the Palestinian Civil Defence, as the Israeli army continued its relentless bombardment of the area.
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Some 900,000 Palestinians are currently left in the city, but the number is decreasing rapidly.
“Gaza City is being emptied building by building, family by family,” Al Jazeera’s Hamza Mohamed said.
“Soon, what remains might not be a city, just the memory of one,” he added.
Khalil Matar, a displaced Palestinian fleeing south, said: “We keep moving. There are sick people with us, and we don’t know where to go. There are no safe zones.”
Many of those who are leaving the north are heading on the forced evacuation threats of the Israeli army to al-Mawasi camp, where conditions have been described as beyond dire, crowded, and under-resourced even before the latest mass displacements.
Reports from al-Mawasi, which is often struck by Israeli strikes despite being a so-called “safe zone”, suggest that new arrivals are struggling to find space to pitch their tents.
‘Famine is devouring us too’
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from the al-Mawasi, said the scenes there were “very chaotic” as more and more families arrived, with their belongings placed by the side of the road.
“For almost a whole week, we’ve been trying to figure out a place to shelter in. I have a large family, including my children, my mother and my grandmother,” one displaced Palestinian man told Khoudary.
“Not only are missiles pouring down on our heads, but famine is devouring us too,” he said.
The man added that his family’s tent was not fit for purpose after two years of use, and that he was unsure where they would take shelter.
“Displacement is as painful as eviscerating one’s soul out of the body. We don’t know where to take refuge,” he said. “I’m taking my family into the unknown.”
Speaking from al-Mawasi, displaced journalist Ahmed al-Najjar said the camp was not safe.
“It’s called a safe zone, but we have been living here for months and we know for sure that it’s not safe,” he stressed.
“How can I call it safe when Israel killed and bombed my own sister within this ‘safe zone’?”
Al-Najjar also described being woken up by the “cries and horrific sounds of people being burned alive in a nearby tent”.
Given such dangers as well as the lack of space, some displaced Palestinians have told Al Jazeera that they will be returning to Gaza City from al-Mawasi, in an apparent trend of reverse displacement.
Faraj Ashour, a displaced Palestinian who lost his legs in an Israeli attack, is one of those considering the return journey.
“I went to al-Mawasi, but the costs were too high … and it was almost impossible to find a proper spot without paying extra,” Ashour said.
Displaced Palestinians wash their dishes at a tent camp in al-Mawasi, Gaza, on September 10, 2025 [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog the IAEA Rafael Grossi has warned that the global non-proliferation regime could “crumble” following US strikes on Iran, telling the Security Council that no-one is in a position to assess the damage at Iran’s Fordow underground site.
