Eurostar has said it plans to launch direct train services from London to Germany and Switzerland.

A fleet of up to 50 new trains, costing around €2bn (£1.7bn), is planned to be up and running by the early 2030s, the firm announced.

Travel time between London and Frankfurt will be about five hours, and around five hours and 20 minutes to Geneva.

But there are questions over the expansion as the firm needs to make sure it has enough space for more trains at its depot in east London.

Eurostar's boss said there was strong demand for train travel across Europe, despite the challenges of higher operational costs and inflation squeezing customer budgets.

"A new golden age of international sustainable travel is here," said chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave, adding that customers were "wanting to go further by rail than ever before".

The introduction of the new trains, which will replace some older ones, will lead to a 30% increase in trains that service London.

The firm is also planning for the proposed new fleet to service a direct line to Geneva from both Amsterdam and Brussels.

It said it was working with partners to get the new lines up and running.

It is not clear if the routes to Frankfurt and Geneva will include stops on the way for passengers to board or leave.

Depot space

However, Eurostar's proposals are not set in stone.

Its Temple Mills railway storehouse in east London is the only depot in the UK able to accommodate the larger trains used in continental Europe and which is already linked to the cross-Channel line.

All the infrastructure along the line, including Temple Mills, is owned by London St Pancras Highspeed, a government organisation previously known as HS1.

Currently, it used exclusively by Eurostar who operates the line on a long-term lease.

But there are several other firms that want to start operating services between London and mainland Europe. These include Spanish start-up Evolyn, Richard Branson's Virgin and a partnership between Gemini Trains and Uber.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has told the BBC it was reviewing proposals from these firms to use Temple Mills, as well as Eurostar's plans to increase services.

The regulator has already said the depot had enough space to either house an expanded Eurostar fleet or accommodate a rival company's trains – but not both.

The ORR said it would make a decision on who gets to use the depot by the end of October, but the prospect of losing vital space at Temple Mills to its rivals could severely derail Eurostar's plans to expand its services.

In this event, the firm has previously said it would "continue to encourage private investment in new depot facilities beyond Temple Mills, of which there are many options".

Eurostar's announcement came as the firm reported a 5% boost in passengers in 2024 compared with the previous year.

It saw a record 19.5 million passengers last year across all of its services.

The company also said it will increase the frequency of its most popular route between London and Paris.

Currently, Eurostar's London trains go to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and during the ski season, the French Alps.

It also runs trains within France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Getlink, which owns the Channel Tunnel, signed an agreement in February with London St Pancras Highspeed to increase the number of services running to Europe.

Siwar has since been discharged and is now at home,  my colleague has heard. That is what brings him to the street of pulverised houses and makeshift shelters of canvas and corrugated iron.

He conducts his search in difficult circumstances. A few days ago I messaged to ask how he was doing. "I am not okay," he replied. "Just a short while ago, the Israeli army announced the evacuation of most areas of Khan Younis… We don't know what to do – there is no safe place to go.

"Al-Mawasi is extremely overcrowded with displaced people. We are lost and have no idea what the right decision is at this moment."

He finds a one-bedroom shack, the entrance formed of a floral patterned, grey and black curtain. Inside there are three mattresses, part of a chest of drawers, and a mirror which reflects sunlight across the floor in front of Siwar, her mother Najwa and her grandmother, Reem.

Siwar is quiet, held secure by the protective presence of the two women. The baby cannot absorb regular milk formula because of a severe allergic reaction. Under the conditions of war and an Israeli blockade on aid arrivals, there is a severe shortage of the formula she needs.

Najwa, 23, explains that her condition stabilised when she was in Nasser hospital, so doctors discharged her with a can of baby formula several days ago.

Now at home, she says the baby's weight has started to slip again. "The doctors told me that Siwar improved and is better than before, but I think that she is still skinny and hasn't improved much. They found her only one can of milk, and it [has] started running out."

Flies dance in front of Siwar's face. "The situation is very dire," says Najwa, "the insects come at her, I have to cover her with a scarf so nothing touches her".

Siwar has lived with the sound of war since last November when she was born. The artillery, the rockets, falling bombs – distant and near. The gunfire, the blades of Israeli drones whirring overhead. Najwa explains: "She understands these things. The sound of the tanks, warplanes, and rockets are so loud and they are close to us. When Siwar hears these sounds, she gets startled and cries. If she is sleeping, she wakes up startled and crying."

Doctors in Gaza say many young mothers report being unable to breastfeed their babies due to lack of nutrition. The pressing problem is food and clean water.

Najwa was malnourished herself when Siwar was born. She and her mother Reem still find it difficult to get anything to eat themselves. It is the struggle of every waking hour. "In our case, we can't provide milk or diapers because of the prices and the border closure."

On 22 May, Israeli military body Cogat said there was no food shortage in Gaza. It said "significant quantities of baby food and flour for bakeries" had been brought into the enclave in recent days.

The agency has repeatedly insisted that Hamas steals aid, while the Israeli government says the war will continue until Hamas is destroyed and the Israeli hostages held in Gaza are released. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 20 hostages seized by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 attacks are believed to be alive and up to 30 others dead.

Aid agencies, the United Nations and many foreign governments, including Britain, reject Cogat's comment that there is no food shortage. US President Donald Trump has also spoken of people "starving" in Gaza.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza as "a teaspoon". He said Palestinians were "enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict" with restricted supplies of fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies.

According to the UN, 80% of Gaza is now either designated as an Israeli militarised zone or a place where people have been ordered to leave.

The denials, the expressions of concern, the condemnations and the moments which seemed like turning points have come and gone throughout this war. The sole constant is the suffering of Gaza's 2.1 million people, like Najwa and her daughter Siwar.

"One does not think about the future or the past," Najwa says.

There is only the present moment and how to survive it.