As the Israel-Gaza war reached a grim six-month milestone, relatives of some of the many thousands of people who have gone missing in Gaza since 7 October spoke of their anguish in a story by Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh. The pair also spoke to some of the estimated 1 million displaced Palestinians in Rafah attempting to celebrate the end of Ramadan and mark Eid al-Fitr, but with little to be festive about amid grief, hunger and danger. Elsewhere, Raja Shehadeh wrote about his fears for Palestine's future, Jonathan Freedland lamented Benjamin Netanyahu's lethal failures, and Nesrine Malik considered the waning support of Israel's allies as the horror in Gaza continued.
With India's marathon election looming, Hannah Ellis-Petersen examined the erosion of democracy and crackdown on opposition under Narendra Modi. Hannah, along with Aakash Hassan and Shah Meer Baloch, also produced a powerful exclusive on claims of assassinations carried out by India in Pakistan that was the result of months of dogged reporting.
A scandal sitting in plain sight: that's how our UK social policy editor, Patrick Butler, described the ordeal of carers in the UK prosecuted and forced to repay thousands of pounds for what in many cases amounted to innocent mistakes over the claiming of an £81.90-a-week allowance. Our exposé this week, from Patrick and Josh Halliday, shone a light on a growing scandal, with a particular focus on the torment endured by individuals dragged through the courts while trying to care for sick and struggling loved ones. On Friday's Today in Focus, Helen Pidd spoke to carer George Henderson, who was convicted of fraud and forced to pay back more than £19,000 after wrongly ticking a box while filling in a form.
There was shocking news from the US, where Arizona's supreme court reinstated a near-total abortion ban law from 1864. It was a ruling that could make the state one of the biggest battlefields in the 2024 electoral fight. Margaret Sullivan wrote that the ruling was a harbinger for the future of US abortion rights under a second Trump presidency, while Carter Sherman and Lauren Gambino captured the surprising reaction of state Republicans who denounced the decision.
Guardian Australia's political editor, Karen Middleton, interrogated a speech made by leader of the opposition, Peter Dutton, after he compared the 1996 mass murder of 35 people at Port Arthur to a pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House, a comment which drew the ire of many in his own party.
In a hopeful and inspiring feature, Dick Wittenberg told us incredible stories of reconciliation between Rwandan survivors and perpetrators of genocide, featuring beautiful portraits by Jan Banning.
In an excellent Today in Focus two-part series, Annie Kelly spoke to Sosa Henkoma about his extraordinary life, from being a victim of grooming by multiple gangs and ending up in hospital, prison and safe houses, to starting a new life as a father and educator working with people who have experienced child criminal exploitation.
In England, a major new report said that thousands of vulnerable children questioning their gender identity have been let down by the health service. We looked at its key findings, interviewed its author, Dr Hilary Cass, and took in views from young trans people and their families.
From Monty Python to his acclaimed travel series, Michael Palin has had a fascinating career – but did he expect the Simon Hattenstone-ish inquisition? Palin talked movingly to Simon about his experience of grief after the death of his wife, Helen, after 57 years of marriage.
After nearly quarter of a century of beaming misanthropy, Larry David brought an end to Curb Your Enthusiasm with a brilliant do-over of the much-maligned Seinfeld finale. Stuart Heritage reviewed a final episode he called pret-tay, pret-tay "perfect".
One more thing … I had a few days off over Easter and read a fantastic memoir, Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets, by the Canadian writer Kyo Maclear. It's a beautifully written and emotionally generous book about the writer's discovery, after her father's death, that he was not in fact her father, and her attempts to get to the truth with her mother, whose mind is being disrupted by dementia. It's very moving and much more than the sum of its parts, taking in memory, the power of growing plants and who we are when we can no longer tell our story.
