this is bbc news. the headlines: large protests are taking place in several cities in israel after prime minister benjamin netanyahu sacked his defence minister, yoav gallant. the minister was dismissed after he called for scrapping of controversial plans to overhaul the justice system. police have been firing water cannon at protesters. authorities in the us say more bad weather could be on its way after tornadoes tore through mississippi friday night, killing 26 people. the national weather service says there's a risk of more tornadoes, high winds, and large hail stones. the italian coastguard says a migrant rescue ship funded

by the british street artist banksy has been seized after it failed to follow instructions to head to sicily. the craft was helping three migrant boats. now on bbc news — weight loss surgery: getting thin abroad. a warning — this programme contains images some viewers may find distressing. many of us have struggled with our weight at one time or another. but now, some are taking the extra step — surgery — to reduce our stomachs. since i had my weight loss surgery in september 2020, i have lost 10st and 9lbs. and it's clear travelling abroad for surgery is getting more and more popular, fuelled by advertising online and difficulty accessing treatment in the uk. i never considered doing it through the nhs, just

because i know how big the wait times were. i followed people out to one of the most popular destinations, turkey, and most people seem to have a great experience. but i've learnt that there are things you need to know first. it's a stock image, and they're leading people to believe that it's the truth. we were getting one patient near enough a week, some straight off the plane from istanbul. they said, "are you the father ofjoe thornley?" i says, "yeah". "got some news for you that he's passed away in turkey." so, is it really safe to put your life in the hands of a surgeon abroad? i'm alex, and three years ago, i had weight loss surgery in the uk with the nhs. it's made me healthier, happier and more confident. but these jeans used to fit me. and ifeel like now, i'd probably fit in one leg.

yeah, i can fit in one leg. yeah. i can fit in one leg. yeah. like, how can you look at this and not realise how much the surgery�*s changed my life? my whole body fits in my old jeans. so what if it's left me with a little excess skin? i tried everything before opting for weight loss surgery. the way that i was trying to lose weight wasn't healthy. you know, i pushed myself to extremes. a couple of days fasting and then, a couple of days eating, and things like that. i'd — i'd be exhausted with putting everything into trying to lose weight. my whole life would revolve around it. message alerts chime i don't think there's a problem with being big if you're comfortable being big, you know? i did this for reasons personal to me. i've never been happy with the way that i look. i can remember sitting in dress fitting rooms in shops, crying my eyes out because i

can't find anything that fits me or anything that i feel comfortable with. and i've always wanted to have a child and my weight was standing in the way of me getting to that goal. next step is to obviously have a baby. chuckles there's loads of different types of weight loss surgery, but i had gastric sleeve surgery. this is when you have up to 70% of your stomach, or more, cut out of your body. it's irreversible, and it works cos you get full much quicker and if you try to eat more, you might struggle to keep it down. so, when i think about what i ate before surgery, i'd go for the crisps, probably go for the chocolate as well, and maybe one of these. i'd ignore that stuff. and i'll show you what i had today. so, i had a pasta salad — a chicken pasta salad. well, i had a quarter. people recognise bulimia, anorexia and other things

as being eating disorders, but food addiction, it's similar to having an addiction to alcohol or an addiction to cigarettes, and you struggle and battle with it. if i hadn't been approved to have surgery through the nhs, i think i probably would've gone abroad to have surgery. but there's a mixed bag of reviews online. and i'm sitting here at 10st 6 and she was 17st 10. i don't see me getting better. i feel like i've ruined my life. i do have people message me quite a lot, saying they're going abroad. i don't necessarily like to give much advice on it because i haven't been through it myself. but i do want to know more, so i've put some posts up on my social media to see if i can find anyone who will let me follow their journey. i had, um, people that said, "oh, i'm going tomorrow". "i'm going next week". some people that said that they're going together — there was a mother and daughter that said they're travelling to turkey together at the end of the month. and lucky for me, they've agreed to let me follow their journey. but you do — is it karate?

it's korean martial arts, which i have done for the past — nearly 13 years. started as a white belt, i'm now a second degree black belt, so, i'm fat, i'm bigger, but i'm fit. why did you both decide to have weight loss surgery? i was just so fed up. um...| think i'd been kind of putting off training for the past maybe five or six weeks, because everything was getting tighter and tighter. and i always feel like they must be looking at me thinking, "how on earth is she a second degree black belt?" and, "oh, she probablyjust — she's been here that long, "they probably gave her it. "she doesnae deserve it." oh, no! and then you start feeling like... oh, you're not worth it. when you heard your mum had booked it, how did you feel,

and why did you make the decision to go for it, as well? cos i had mentioned about people that i follow on social media that have had it done, um, and i'd showed her, like, all their results — like, look how amazing they're looking now and i was like, "do you know what? "i think i'm going to do it, too. "i think i'm readyjust to take that massive leap and go for it." i'm a type two diabetic. right. so, what i'm hoping with the weight loss surgery is that it puts my diabetes back into remission. just in the last three years, the hashtag #gastricsleeve has been viewed on tiktok nearly 300 million times in the uk. i've chose to go to turkey because when you actually start researching it online, the first ones that come up is all usually istanbul in turkey and antalya in turkey. so, when i started to look at that — and then, one of my clients has recently come back from turkey — and she went there and she had an amazing experience. did you try and go down the nhs path, or did you consider having it privately in scotland?

in scotland, it ranges between £12,000 and £14,000. like, there's no way we could afford to have done it privately here. whereas, paying £2,000 each to go to turkey... i never considered doing it through the nhsjust because i know how big the wait times were. in scotland, you haven't much option. you either pay private or you go abroad. and i mean, donnae get me wrong, i would much rather that the nhs would have done it. i would much rather have it here. it's notjust kelly—marie and melanie who are struggling to access obesity surgery in the uk. the number of weight loss surgeries has really gone down since the pandemic. this is the first time in 50 years that i can honestly say i'm going to do something and i know it's going to work for me. i know it's going to work. a few days later, and they're off to turkey. are you ready? yeah. are you ready to go? let's go! it sort of felt quite surreal up until now. like it wasn't actually

going to happen? yeah. but for us, it's like you're excited but nervous, too, because it's not a holiday you're going for... yeah. ..you're still going for surgery. this is where i leave you. good luck! good luck. thank you. bye! it's just like the first day of the rest of your life. this is basically it. this is the — the last day feeling fat. chuckles because after today, we're on the road to where we want to be in life.

you will indeed. i think she's wanted this for so long and now, it's finally happening, it's just all totally overwhelming cos you know that this is where you want to be, so... it's just everything's just going the right way, so... see you on the other side. i'm a bit sore. i've been a bit sick since yesterday. do you want to see my wee tummy? yeah, if you... yep. guys, there's my stomach. new me, though. new me! i'm so happy the operation went well for kelly—marie

and melanie, and i can't wait to see if they lose their weight, but i want to see if it really is that easy to find a good clinic. i'm going to do some research. everyone that i know that's been to turkey for weight loss surgery has done the majority of their research online, so let's have a look at what they're looking at. so this one says, "gastric sleeve, turkey, five—star hotel "accommodation". actually, you should be looking at where you're going to have your surgery, the surgeon you're going to, not where you're going to be staying when you're there. if i was going abroad for surgery, i wouldn't even know where to start. it looks like a big part of choosing the right clinic are the online reviews and the before and after pictures. but can you always trust everything you see online? 0h! there is somebody that i recognise on here. they had their surgery in the uk, privately, and they're being used on a turkish website for weight loss surgery. i even spotted one clinic that was trying to pass off images anyone can buy on the

internet as their own patients. and apparently, some of these supposed patients had written glowing reviews. it's a stock image, and they're leading people to believe that it's the truth. and it worries me, cos if they haven't got any genuine reviews of people that have had surgery with them, they're having to use fake images and potentially fake reviews, is it a safe clinic to go to? lots of the clinics say that you can book an appointment just by whatsapping them, so i decided to, using the weight that i was before having surgery. it's ridiculously quick. like, i didn't think that by sending a message, i'd get a response straight away. i was asked my age, if i took any regular medication, and if i could walk long distances. 0h, he's replied. she scoffs "i got confirmation from the surgeon. "you're suitable for gastric sleeve operation."

ijust, like... i don't understand how he can say that... ..with the little amount of information that he has. i was offered surgery within 20 minutes for the next week. so, i wanted to share that with someone who'd heard it plenty of times before. if your surgeon is able to give you an operation date - within the next week, i'd personally say no. | you know? if they're really good i at what they're doing, they shouldn't be free next week. i so, could you tell us a little bit about what medical negligence is? if the surgery is not up - to the standard, or something goes wrong with it, in other terms, then the patients i have the right to ask for compensation. . i have, i'd say, somewhere from 10 to 15 enquiries - a week sometimes. wow! i don't take on all of them. so, in terms of people booking surgery in turkey, do they tend to go through clinics or directly to surgeons? how...how does that work?

in most cases that come to me, these are the people who've - used these medical tourism agencies. i the surgeon in turkey is held accountable, l we sue them. the hospital in turkey is held accountable, l we sue the hospital as well. however, i cannot sue the agent. - they simply say, "well, - ijust booked a few tickets." is it safe for people to do research and go and have weight—loss surgery in turkey? i think so. it's no, um... no less safe than any other thing, really, . online, you know. it's just go to a reputable, credible company. - check, speak to them, | find out their insurance certificate, find out who - the surgeon is and if they're registered with - the board in turkey. you wouldn't simplyjust walk in to any clinic to even get - botox or a facial. and there are a lot of examples

of surgery going well when the right research is done. like one of my best friends, len. she had her weight—loss surgery in turkey and now she's literally got everything she ever dreamed of. around about seven years. 0bviously, nothing was working. but then around a year after having the sleeve, i was expecting mia. yeah, like, it's insane. like, the fact that i could potentially be that person as well, do you know what i mean? i've struggled, like, with fertility. it was one of my main reasons for having weight—loss surgery and to, like, see your story and how far you've come, like, it really motivates me. you don't think that when the doctors say, you know.. it's the weight, yeah... lose the weight, you don't believe that that is the problem. you think that can't be it. it can't be it. and actually, for a lot of people, it is. that is the issue. and you are like the evidence. yeah, that i haven't changed

anything else besides the fact that i've lost a considerable amount of weight. one day we'll come shopping for me. yeah. definitely. there's literally so many things that change when you before i was offered surgery, i spent years being assessed for it physically and mentally, and because it does have risks, it's only offered by the nhs as a last resort after you've tried all other options. so surgery was finally offered to me when my hospital team, including my surgeon, dietician and psychologist, agreed on it in a meeting similarto one i'm attending today. so the next patient we're going to discuss, just to see about her eligibility for surgery, because it looks like she's got quite a few other things going on, including alcohol excess and some psychological issues as well. mr woodcock has agreed to speak to me before he preps for his next surgery. he's worried about a growing

number of patients that are returning from weight—loss surgery in turkey with complications. certainly, over the last 18 months to two years, this is when we saw more patients. we were getting one patient near enough a week coming in, some straight off the plane from istanbul to newcastle airport and then straight to cramlington hospital where they were very, very unwell. can you tell me a bit about the sort of complications that you see with patients that are coming back from turkey after weight—loss surgery? yeah, the most serious ones are patients who attend accident and emergency and they're septic. and they're septic because they've got a leak. let's never forget a lot of these patients are morbidly obese, are diabetic, high blood pressure, have a whole load of medical problems, and now we are dealing with the complications of surgery. so it's technically quite demanding surgery. do you have any of those complications here in the uk after surgery? we do have those complications. so, it'd be wrong to just say these things just happen in turkey.

but i suppose the big difference here is when we operate on our own patients, we are here to look after them afterwards and, touch wood, i think by the grace of god, we've had no deaths from anybody who's gone to turkey at this moment in time. but i know that's not the case for other parts of the country. i have no issue at all if patients want to go to turkey for their operation, as long as they're going to be looked after. and that looking after is before the surgery and after the surgery. i've seen a few stories online that match what mr woodcock�*s describing. and there's one person, joe, whose story really caught my attention. joe's friends have agreed to tell me about him. so, i metjoe in 2017 at the airport. so, i did a season in ibiza. and we went on to live with each other in ibiza for six months and we had the best season of our lives. he wasn't like someone's best friend.

he was everyone's best friend. when you think of ibiza, you think of beach bikinis, people walking around not with many clothes on. joe never let that affect him. he would always just, like, take the piss and like, do big belly flops in the pool and all that. so how do you think his weight affected him? he didn't really speak about it much, not to me anyway. and he did try things. i mean, he'd go to the gym, he would have meal plans. i always knew in the back of my mind that he would've loved to lose it. even though everyone loves you, there's still a lot that goes on up in there. so whenjoe told me that he was going to turkey, obviously i didn't want him to go. i was kind of at the time, i wasjust like, "why are you doing that for?" like, you don't need to do that. and hejust said, "i'm just not happy. "like, i've tried everything, megs, and i've got to do it." and did you speak to him when he was in turkey? he messaged me when he was on the way there. i was a bit worried when he sent it to me. because obviously, i knew what the risks were of going there for do it. and i think it was the

first day after he was having his operation. so it was very — it happened very fast. and then i said the next day, "good morning." then the morning after, i messaged... then i messaged the day after that on the 12th was a message just saying... what emotions are you supposed to show for something of a loss of a child, you know? well, the policeman gave us a phone number of the doctor in turkey, at the hospital in turkey. and then we rang the hospital and the doctorjust turned around and said, "oh, he had low blood pressure, he had a heart attack." cardiac arrest. "he had a cardiac arrest," and things like this. so we just assumed with him being the biggest lad, that his body had failed, sort of thing. it was only when we got him back to england that they did a... postmortem. ..postmortem on him in england

that we realised that what the turkish doctor had told us was irrelevant. it was nothing to do with that. he died of internal bleeding. he died of internal bleeding from the surgery site. we didn't tell the family until after christmas because we thought it's christmas and it's not going to be fair. it's going to upset a lot of people knowing what had actually happened. well, his friends mainly. you waited until after christmas to tell everyone? yeah. so, we waited. don't get upset. he said he wasn't going to cry. i wasn't. i don't want to because my mascara will run. yeah. time's a good healer. i know it's three year nearly, but, yeah, i can... i can cry if i wanted to. you know, just at the drop of a hat type thing. no, i'm all right. i'll get there. yeah. we have those moments. don't we? listening to joe's

story is heartbreaking. i've discovered that seven people have died after travelling to turkey for weight—loss surgery since 2019. joe never told his parents what clinic he was going to, and they say the surgeon stopped replying to messages. eligibility for weight—loss surgery is based upon your height—to—weight ratio. in other words, your body mass index, or bmi. a bmi of 16 to 25 is considered medically healthy. in the uk, weight—loss surgery is usually only offered to those with a bmi of over a0. so what are the risks if this surgery was performed on somebody with too low a bmi? so, there's no increased risk of, for example, bleeding or something else that a person with a lower bmi would get. but there's nothing to be gained from having weight—loss surgery in terms of improved life expectancy or improved life quality. so you have to really ask

yourself — why are these people having potentially, you know, risky surgery if something goes wrong when actually they don't need it? we've been told that no uk clinic would offer this surgery to someone of a normal weight, but that some clinics in turkey would. so we tested it out. the bbc messaged 27 weight—loss clinics in turkey asking if they'll accept me for gastric sleeve surgery. i'm currently a size 12 and a bmi of 24.5, which is considered normal. this is an obesity surgery and i'm about to find out if any of the clinics accepted me at this size. 0k. i have no idea what's going to come out here, as you don't...you don't know either. no, i don't know. six of those 27 providers accepted my fake profile for gastric sleeve surgery despite only having a bmi of 24.5. it's just... baffles me. it's just wrong.

they should not be offering any kind of surgery at, you know, at a normal bmi. itjust... itjust makes no sense. and this one really shocked me. some clinics acknowledged i didn't meet the right criteria, but instead of turning me down for surgery, they told me to gain weight. those medical providers, if they're willing to encourage somebody to gain weight to come and have surgery, i wouldn't trust them to perform surgery on me. i agree. it's appalling. i've never come across a situation where somebody�*s being told to eat more to put their weight up. that is just counterproductive, ridiculous and, you know, at worst, i would say, you know, negligent. it's been six weeks since i saw kelly—marie and melanie just

before they went to turkey for their gastric sleeves. and today, i'm seeing them for the first time since, at their martial arts training class. thank you, sir. oh, my god, hi, how are you both? you both look incredible. incredible. i think you saw my face when i walked in and it was, like, a shock. you both look incredible. thank you. i think the big question is — how much weight have you both lost? because i don't know. so we weigh on a tuesday, because that's the week from we had surgery, and i was 2.5 stone down on tuesday. wow. and i was zst 4lb down on tuesday. wow. that's incredible. and that's in...six weeks. six weeks. we're just. . .we�*re amazed at our own results too. i know. it's crazy. it feels great. and i've just got so much more confidence. just feeling like, fitting into your uniform there, my health. i wanted to do it for...mainly for my health. and already, my blood pressure

tablets have been lowered, and they reckon that in another few weeks i'll be able to come off them completely. here's to the rest of your lives. i know. i can't wait. cannot wait! i love that. group hug? yeah. ha! i found out that in this country, it's difficult to have the surgery on the nhs. that makes people make these quick decisions and it's very easy to do that and they don't put the time into researching where they're going. and all in all, surgery can be such a positive thing. but you need to do your research, and that's what's important.

hello there, the second half of the weekend marked a change to our weather. we saw cold arctic air spreading southwards slowly during sunday, and the cold air will be with us to start the new week. monday, cold, dry and bright for most of us, however very shortlived because from tuesday onwards, it turns wetter and windy, and milder thanks to atlantic low—pressure systems. but this area of high pressure will bring us a fine day for monday. but we're in this cold air mass, as you can see from the blue colours, so a cold, frosty start for many, still some wintry showers affecting eastern coasts, a risk of ice here for many. any mist and fog will fade

away , it stays sunny into the afternoon, just the chance of the odd light shower here and there, but most places should stay dry. after that cold start, temperatures reaching highs of 7—10 degrees, could be up to 11 degrees in the southwest as cloud and breeze pick up here. as we move through monday night, we start to see this frontal system working into western areas, so temperatures pick up across western areas, but the rain bumps into the cold air, likely to turn into snow over higher ground, another chilly start across eastern scotland and eastern england. tuesday, we're very much dominated by low pressure again, and these weather fronts bringing outbreaks of rain. you can see the white colours indicating transient snow on the leading edge of that rain band as it spreads northwards, generally it's going to be a cloudy, breezy day with outbreaks of rain, drier interludes at times. and temperatures will be lifting, up to 12 degrees in the west, still quite cool across more eastern areas. on wednesday, we usher in some very mild air indeed around this area of low pressure.

the yellow and orange starting to push northwards and eastwards. a very mild start to the day on wednesday, a lot of cloud, limited brightness, outbreaks of rain spilling up from the south and the west, moving northwards, some will be quite heavy at times. temperatures in the mid—teens for many of us in england, wales, northern ireland, and double figures across scotland. stays unsettled for thursdasy and friday. sunshine and showers for thursday. friday, we could see a potent deep area of low pressure spread across the country to bring a risk of gales. it does look like on friday the risk of gales will be around southern and western coasts — certainly england and wales will be windy — both days unsettled, but both days very mild.

welcome to bbc news. i'm monika plaha. our top stories: protesters take to the streets in tel aviv, including outside the home of prime minister benjamin netanyahu in jerusalem, after he fires his defence minister for condemning his controversial legal reforms. this sacking of israel's defence minister, who spoke out against the legislation, feels to many people here like a turning point. warnings of more severe weather in mississippi and neighbouring states, after a powerful tornado kills at least 26 people. we saw a trailer go up in the air, bang down like a pancake and just explode. a migrant rescue ship funded by street artist banksy is seized by italian coast guards.