What can a play about the formation of the SDP in 1981 tell us about today's political landscape?

In the annals of great political statements, the Limehouse declaration isn't exactly up there with the Gettysburg Address or "Peace for our time".
Yet the statement issued by Labour's so-called "Gang of Four" that they were leaving to form their own Social Democratic Party still occupies an important place in British political history.
Now, 36 years on, the story behind that moment is being retold in a play that, on stage at least, sees David Owen, William "Bill" Rodgers, Shirley Williams and the late Roy Jenkins reunited.
It arrives at a point when Labour is once again riven by internal divisions - prompting some to ponder whether another breakaway could be on the cards.
Set on 25 January 1981 in the kitchen of Owen's London home, Limehouse imagines the "gang" coming together to thrash out the details of their departure.
It is, concedes playwright Steve Waters, "two years of arguments, debates, persuasion and plotting concentrated into a very short span of time".
"It's fiction, but there's lots of things that come directly from reality," says Waters. "The facts of the characters' situations have been soundly researched.
"No one knows what they said that day - we don't have a record of their words. That, for me, was an invitation to write the play."
Rodgers, Williams, Owen and his wife Debbie were at London's Donmar Warehouse on Wednesday to see their pasts played out before them.
That made for a nerve-wracking evening for Tom Goodman-Hill, the actor cast in the David Owen role.
"I was very glad that David and Debbie were on the back row of the stalls, because it meant they weren't in my eyeline," says one of the stars of Channel 4's Humans.
"But I've been able to meet them on a couple of occasions and talk to them about the play, so they knew what to expect."
Speaking after Tuesday's press night, Lord Owen said Waters had "obviously taken a lot of licence".
"But he has captured the debates, the agonies and the quite strong arguments we had," he went on. "In a way, he's captured the flavour of all of us."
The veteran politician, now 78, does have one cavil, however - about the wine that is shown being liberally poured, and drunk, over the play's 105 minutes.
"There was no Chateau Lafite in the Owen household," he says with a rueful smile.
For her part, Baroness Williams takes issue with a point in the play where she leaves to be interviewed by the BBC.
"I don't remember going off to do an interview, and I don't think they ever found any evidence I did," she insists.
Generally, though, she considers Limehouse to be "gripping and very authentic".
"I didn't think it would ever be a play," the 86-year-old goes on. "And who could've expected things to come full circle 35 years on?"
Waters was originally approached to write about the Labour Party of today but felt it was "almost too painful to write about".
"It's also a bit of a moving target," he continues. "But hopefully the 1980s feels like a mirror that reflects back on our time."
Baroness Williams, though, feels Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is a different proposition from the party she and her colleagues chose to leave.
"I think it's more serious now," she sighs. "At the very heart of the party, there's no real agreement about who should be the leader."
"Corbyn is not doing everything wrong," says Lord Owen. "He represents an element that feels let down.
"But at the same time, you have to be a governing force with coherence.
"I want to see Labour back on its feet, and I hope and I pray that it's not going to take as long for Labour to get back into power as it did in the 1980s.
"Labour can recover before the next election, but if you were a betting man you'd say that it couldn't."
Roy Jenkins died in 2003 at the age of 82. Actor Roger Allam, though, hopes that he would be happy with the way he is portrayed.
"I would really like Roy to say my performance and the play gave a full and truthful voice to his view of what a modern, progressive, social democratic state should be in this country," says the Endeavour star.
"If he said that, I'd be very happy."
Limehouse runs at the Donmar Warehouse until 15 April.
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Somalia's militant Islamist movement al-Shabab is battling to keep the loyalty of its fighters, as the Islamic State (IS) group tries to gain a foothold in East Africa.

IS achieved a major boost in March this year when it won the loyalty of the main jihadi group in West Africa - Boko Haram, which is based in Nigeria, Africa's most populous state.
But East Africa - which has a longer history of militant Islamist activity - has so far remained out of its grasp, mainly because of the al-Shabab leadership's loyalty to al-Qaeda.
However, some cracks may be starting to appear in that unified position.
Last month Sheikh Abdulqadir Mumi, a prominent former "spiritual leader" and recruiter for al-Shabab, declared allegiance to IS from his base in the remote Galgala Mountains, in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, located in north-eastern Somalia.
The move may turn out to be largely symbolic, given that reports indicate only 20 of Mumi's estimated 300 followers opted to switch sides, but it has at least given IS its first official outpost in East Africa.
For al-Qaeda, East Africa has always been a key frontier of jihad. Its most notorious attack, before it brought down the New York Twin Towers in 2001, was the simultaneous bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, which left more than 200 people dead.
With al-Qaeda significantly weakened since the death of Osama Bin Laden, it has relied on al-Shabab to salvage its credibility in global jihadi circles.
Its attack on Kenya's Garissa University College in April, which killed about 150 people, provided a grim sequel to the Westgate shopping centre attack in September 2013, when at least 67 were killed in a daytime assault in the heart of the Kenyan capital.
These large-scale attacks made al-Shabab a prime target for recruitment by IS, a group which prefers its new members to have proven murderous credentials.
IS has embarked on a sleek propaganda campaign, where high definition videos not only show gruesome beheadings and public executions, but also depict a utopian view of life under the IS "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria: of people harvesting grapes in Raqqa or taking a dip in Mosul's public swimming pool.
This is a tactic - one that al-Shabab has itself copied - to attract jihadists from around the world.
IS has even co-opted Boko Haram, its new affiliate in Africa, to urge Somali militants to join its ranks as part of the Nigerian group's own propaganda machine.
For the most part so far, al-Shabab's leaders have not been swayed by IS attempts to woo them.
They have banned any discussion relating to the group and have detained perceived IS sympathisers in southern and central Somalia, including two senior commanders and some foreign fighters, according to pro al-Shabab media.
The group has also said it would treat defectors as enemies.
Internal tensions have already started to spill over in some cases, with local media reporting at least nine militants killed in fighting earlier this month between two rival al-Shabab factions in southern Somalia.
The repeated warnings from the jihadist group's leaders against defections suggest they see IS as a genuine threat to their own standing and ability to recruit.
Although al-Shabab has carried out big attacks outside its borders - especially on Kenya which has troops on the ground as part of an African Union mission backing the Somali government - the group's priorities are still mainly domestic.
IS advocates global expansion and domination, an ideology that does not sit well with al-Shabab leaders, who would rather focus on matters closer to home.
While the group is happy to take on foreign fighters who serve their own purpose, the idea of taking orders from leaders outside Somalia is not something the al-Shabab hierarchy is keen on.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has held up reports of factionalism within al-Shabab as a sign of the group's weakness, but it still holds large swathes of territory in the central and southern regions of the country, and continues to launch deadly attacks in the capital Mogadishu.
There is no doubt that al-Shabab, whatever internal wrangling is currently going on, remains a deadly force within Somalia and in neighbouring Kenya.
If the IS propaganda campaign leads to more defections, it could declare a branch in East Africa, prompting a potentially devastating three-way war between IS, al-Shabab and the Somali government.
It would also herald the arrival of a more potent enemy for other East African governments.


Four companies have been chosen to build prototypes for Donald Trump's planned border wall, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.

The four concrete prototypes will be 30ft (9m) long and up to 30ft tall, and will be built in the coming months.
Officials will then spend up to two months testing the walls for tampering and penetration resistance using small hand tools, CBP said.
The four contracts are worth up to $500,000 (Â£387,000) each.
A continuous wall across the entire southern US border was a key promise in President Trump's election campaign.
The prototypes "will help us refine the design standards" of the eventual wall, acting CBP deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello said.
"Testing will look at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering, and scaling or anti-climb features."
But he said the officials would stick to small hand tools rather than testing "ballistic kind of things".
The walls will also need to feature cable conduits and other design features for sensors and cameras.
Once the order to start building is given in the next few weeks, the prototypes are expected to be finished within 30 days.
The four companies to which the contracts were awarded are:
Mr Vitiello said he did not know if any of the firms had had prior experience in border wall construction.
More than 200 companies are believed to have submitted designs for the proposed border wall.
Four more contracts for prototypes made from materials other than concrete will be announced next week.


Dramatic CCTV footage of a traffic warden being mown down by a motorist has been released by Kent Police.

Cameras captured the moment David Drury asked the driver to move his car from zigzag lines next to a pedestrian crossing on the Isle of Sheppey.
As a parking ticket was being printed, the driver accelerated towards him and knocked him over, before driving off. It was captured on a body worn camera.
Mr Drury suffered neck and shoulder injuries.
The incident took place on 8 July on High Street, Eastchurch. No arrests were made.
Police have now re-issued an image of a man they would like to speak to.


Son Heung-Min scored a dramatic late winner as Tottenham moved up to third in the Premier League with victory over 10-man Watford.

Erik Lamela put the visitors in front when he stroked in a shot after Dele Alli dispossessed Craig Cathcart.
Odion Ighalo equalised when his determination helped him beat Eric Dier and poke home.
Nathan Ake was sent off for a challenge on Lamela before Son scored with a deft flick from Kieran Trippier's cross.
Relive Tottenham's win at Watford
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Tottenham had struggled to make the most of their numerical advantage following Ake's dismissal on 63 minutes.
Media playback is not supported on this device
Indeed Watford looked the more likely goalscorers in the closing stages as they earned a succession of corners and could have taken the lead themselves.
Ben Watson's corner almost crept in before keeper Hugo Lloris fended the ball away, with goalline technology showing the ball was only inches away from going in.
Moments later, Spurs scored the winner. Trippier's crosses from the right had caused the hosts problems throughout and it was his delivery that led to Son's clincher.
There was a suggestion of offside in the build-up to the goal, but referee Anthony Taylor allowed it to stand.
Ake caught Lamela studs first and high on the leg as he attempted to get to a bouncing ball.
Taylor took his time before producing his red card to the apparent bemusement of the Watford left-back and the home dugout.
"My view was amazing but I don't like to talk about the referees. It is football," said Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores.
"It is difficult," said Spurs counterpart Mauricio Pochettino. "From my point of view, it was an 'orange' or red - but more than yellow."
Apart from a meeting between two of the league's form teams, the match at Vicarage Road also saw strikers Ighalo and Harry Kane on the same pitch.
Ighalo showed strength and determination in scoring a goal that took him to 14 for the season and 30 in 2015.
Chances were infrequent for Kane and the closest he came was when a brave near-post header went wide.
He was more of a presence than his opposite number, though, was involved in more of the build-up play and also helped out defensively.
Watford boss Quique Sanchez Flores: "I feel sorry because we had possibility to draw and it was painful how we lost the match.
Media playback is not supported on this device
"But I am really proud of my players. They fight a lot, have an amazing soul. The line between winning and losing is very small."
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino on whether Spurs can win the title: "In football a lot can happen. The most important thing is we believe - we have a strong squad to squad to fight for it."
He added: "The victory is very important for us, we worked hard to try and win and are happy because Watford are a difficult team and beat Liverpool recently.
"The condition of the pitch made it difficult to play how we usually play but we showed great maturity.  We need to feel proud for the players. It was a great effort after only playing 48 hours ago."
Watford have another testing game at home when they welcome Manchester City to Vicarage Road on 2 January, while Tottenham face a trip to Everton a day later.
Match ends, Watford 1, Tottenham Hotspur 2.
Second Half ends, Watford 1, Tottenham Hotspur 2.
Attempt blocked. Troy Deeney (Watford) right footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked.
Nacer Chadli (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Valon Behrami (Watford).
Foul by Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur).
Nyom (Watford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  Watford 1, Tottenham Hotspur 2. Son Heung-Min (Tottenham Hotspur) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Kieran Trippier with a cross.
Corner,  Watford. Conceded by Kieran Trippier.
Corner,  Watford. Conceded by Danny Rose.
Corner,  Watford. Conceded by Hugo Lloris.
Foul by Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur).
Odion Ighalo (Watford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur).
Etienne Capoue (Watford) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Attempt blocked. Troy Deeney (Watford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Attempt blocked. Troy Deeney (Watford) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Ben Watson with a cross.
Corner,  Watford. Conceded by Harry Kane.
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Nacer Chadli replaces Dele Alli.
Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur).
Etienne Capoue (Watford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Delay over. They are ready to continue.
Delay in match Odion Ighalo (Watford) because of an injury.
Foul by Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur).
Odion Ighalo (Watford) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Son Heung-Min replaces Tom Carroll.
Substitution, Watford. Nyom replaces Jurado.
Odion Ighalo (Watford) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Odion Ighalo (Watford).
Attempt missed. Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left. Assisted by Dele Alli.
Troy Deeney (Watford) is shown the yellow card.
Nathan Aké (Watford) is shown the red card.
Erik Lamela (Tottenham Hotspur) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Foul by Nathan Aké (Watford).
Substitution, Watford. Sebastian Prödl replaces Miguel Britos.
Foul by Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur).
Jurado (Watford) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur) header from the right side of the six yard box is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Kieran Trippier with a cross.


A newborn baby, who lived for less than two hours, became Britain's youngest-ever organ donor last year.

Doctors at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, carried out the pioneering surgery three minutes after Teddy Houlston died on April 22.
His kidneys were then used to save an adult's life in Leeds.
His parents, Mike Houlston and Jess Evans, from Cardiff, say they want people to know his story and see his face, saying: "We are so proud of him".
In an interview with told the Daily Mirror, Mr Houlston said: "He lived and died a hero. It's impossible to explain how proud we are of him."
Ms Evans was carrying twins when she was told - 12 weeks into her pregnancy - that one was fatally ill.
Teddy had anencephaly, a rare and lethal abnormality which prevents the brain and skull from developing.
Babies with the condition either die in the womb, are stillborn or live for just seconds, minutes or hours after birth.
Ms Evans told the Mirror that the news of Teddy's condition was "soul-destroying".
Though doctors offered the couple the option of an abortion, Ms Evans said: "We thought that even if we had a moment with him, or 10 minutes, or an hour, that time was the most precious thing that we would ever experience."
As they continued with the pregnancy, the couple decided that they wanted to donate their baby's organs.
Ms Evans said: "Organ donation was something I've always felt quite strongly about ever since I was a child."
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Houlston said they were initially told a transplant was not possible because it had never been done before.
But he said hearing the news that the transplant from Teddy had gone to plan had left them with a feeling of joy, saying: "We never doubted him".
"He is still very much a part of our family today, we talk of him every day, our children talk of him, our families do, we always remember him, he is with us all the time," Ms Evans added.
The success of the transplant "helped us grieve", she said, adding: "Knowing that he was able to do such good, more good than most of us will ever do in our lifetime - it is just overwhelming how proud we are of him."
Retrieving organs from children for transplant is rare, it is particularly unusual from newborn babies - and unheard of in those with anencephaly.
Yet his kidneys would have been fully functional in the womb.
Angharad Griffiths, a specialist nurse from NHS Blood and Transplant who helped complete the transplant, said told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she had "every belief" that a similar transplant could be successfully carried out in the future.
She said the transplant had been "challenging", particularly as they did not know if Teddy would be born alive.
Her team monitored Teddy throughout his short life, before performing the transplant minutes after he died.
Being present throughout Teddy's life was "a privilege", she said, saying his life was "an hour-and-a-half of pure joy".
"There was some sadness in the room naturally, [his parents] knew they were going to lose their baby, they knew he would pass away, but they were overjoyed that he had been born alive and they had those precious minutes with him and they spent those precious minutes enjoying him and his life," she added.
By Philippa Roxby, health reporter, BBC News website
The process of matching a donor's organs to a recipient on the transplant waiting list is a complex one.
Depending on the organs donated, the needs of the people waiting, their tissue type, overall health and location, the organs are offered to the most appropriate patient on the waiting list.
In this case, Teddy's kidneys - which were unaffected by the rare brain disease he had - will be able to grow inside another living body, making them suitable for donation to an adult, as well as a small baby.
Teddy lived for 100 minutes after he was born. After he died, doctors would have moved quickly to perform the rare and intricate operation to remove his kidneys and use them to save another life.
His case puts the focus back on neo-natal organ donation as a way of increasing the number of organ donors in the future.
There are currently around 7,000 patients on the organ transplant waiting list in the UK.
The Mirror said that the family visited Teddy's grave on Wednesday - on what would have been his first birthday - with his surviving twin, Noah.
Ms Evans said: "Although he wasn't with us very long, and we brought him into the world knowing there was no hope of a life for him, we are incredibly proud of his heroism."
"We hope Teddy's story will inspire families who find themselves in the position of losing a child."
The couple are encouraging anyone who is not on the NHS Organ Donor Register to sign up.
They are also raising money for the charity 2 Wish Upon a Star, which aims to improve bereavement services for parents who lose babies or children.
Earlier this year, doctors at the Imperial College NHS Trust in London revealed that a six-day-old baby girl's kidneys and liver cells had been given to two separate recipients after her heart stopped beating.
At the time, it had been thought she was the youngest organ donor in the UK.


Many consumers were outraged with the news that the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was possibly considering new rules allowing net providers to charge more for access to an online fast lane.

People decried the perceived death of open communication, the potential rising costs of access, and perhaps, most importantly, how they would access streaming episodes of favourite programmes like Breaking Bad and House of Cards.
The insatiable demand for streaming content has choked US networks, causing internet service providers (ISPs) to attempt to spread the cost of upgraded service to content providers like Netflix.
According to reports, the FCC will allow a fast lane for data-heavy services when new rules are published in May. Critics say this violates the so-called "net neutrality" principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally.
If such growing costs trickle down to consumers, experts believe a life of internet piracy may seem appealing for those accustomed to cheaper access.
There's "a real possibility that you will price some people out of the market for legitimate programming and into a market for ill-gotten programming because it will just cost too much or it will become clear they can pay a lot less for it," says Allen Hammond, director of the Broadband Institute of California.
Already more than 11% of all internet traffic is believed to be illegally shared, copyrighted content such as films and television episodes, according to a report commissioned by NBC Universal.
ISPs like Verizon have acknowledged that video streaming demand has grown exponentially in recent years, eating up to half of bandwidth. And upgrades to current networks can prove very costly.
"Other companies want us to spend our money to help supplement what they may be doing," Verizon spokeswoman Linda Laughlin says.
As ISPs negotiate with content providers like Netflix, service has sometimes slowed to a near unusable speed for certain customers.
In short, some people are paying for streaming services they are not always receiving.
For ethicist Irina Raicu, it presents an unusual dilemma in which turning to pirating of content may not be, technically, wrong.
"If you are actually paying and using [piracy sites] in desperation, I don't think it's unethical," she says, but adds that content creators may be hurt more than ISPs in the bargain.
Film studios concur, arguing internet piracy costs them millions of dollars in lost revenue every year.
"I think it just speaks to the way consumers are just pushed to the limit here," Ms Raicu says. "In a world where people feel like the big companies are allowed to act unethically and without any kind of regulations, I think it's more likely to prompt people to respond the same way."
Ms Raicu says the argument is part of the ongoing net neutrality debate in the US. Is the internet a human right, or a business to be controlled by market forces?
Many have argued the US government should treat the internet as a public utility rather than the oligopoly it is today.
A low number of ISPs control the bulk of the market, and in some areas of the nation there is only one ISP available.
And if you don't like their practices, wellâ€¦ tough.
Under such a system, customers don't have the ability to modify contracts or hold their ISP accountable, says Mr Hammond.
"Businesses are providing service based on a contract that is written from their point of view," he says. "We have [no room] to negotiate."
If no statutes are written to protect consumer rights, then customers are bound to the terms of the contract. It becomes a take-it-or-leave-it system.
And right now the US government appears less than eager to enter into the fray.
"If Congress wants to impose net neutrality, it can," says Aaron Schwabach, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
But "I doubt that Congress could agree to adopt a national pancake right now", he says, referencing the recent paralysing political polarisation in the US House of Representatives and Senate.
Mr Schwabach also notes that those same politicians are beholden to the ISPs - often part of larger media conglomerates - for access to constituents come voting season.
"These corporations are pretty large and pretty well-versed and [also] have their people up on Capitol Hill" lobbying, echoes Mr Hammond. "And they have long memories and deep pockets."
When individual consumer Davids are up against corporate and government Goliaths, turning to piracy may some day become a form of social protest, experts argue.
"We have anti-monopoly laws, we have regulation because we don't want to have too much concentration of power in too few hands," says Stuart Green, a professor at Rutgers School of Law.
"I think people feel like at a certain point they have to correct what the government or the market won't correct," he adds. "When a government or oligopoly controls all of the wealth, then sometimes people have to break the law in order to change the status quo as an agent of social change."
Even if such internet piracy is a self-serving desire for free access to the Iron Man films and not pure altruism, if enough people do it, it may render the illegality of it moot.
"If people feel like this has gotten out of hand and power is controlled by too small a group of people [who think], 'My bills keep going up and up, I'm not going to tolerate that, I'm going to violate the law', the aggregate result is the law becomes unstable," Mr Green says.
"[If] most people believe that the law is not consistent with their intuitions and beliefs about what's right and wrong, the law isn't really going to be effective," he adds. "You can't have the FCC coming into people's homes and suing everybody. People just won't tolerate that."
But, if internet rules continue to change, ISPs may be able to block access to illegal content download sites for fear of being sued by content creators.
Basically, just as people may be turning more to piracy, pirate sites will be driven to extinction.
"That should reduce the incidents of illegal downloading because it won't be technologically possible," says Mr Green.
"Or people will find new ways to get around it."
Mr Schwabach notes that, when he was in college, other people would take turns purchasing a vinyl record each week and allowed their classmates to re-record and distribute the music on cassettes.
The same is likely to hold true for the internet.
"Some people always find a way," he concludes.


Nine dogs including seven puppies have been stolen from a garden in West Lothian.

Seven Shi Tzu puppies and two full-grown lurchers were taken from the property in Glendevon Park, Winchburgh, between 07:30 and 18:00 on Wednesday.
The Shi Tzu puppies are tan and white in colour and are worth about Â£650 each. The lurchers have pale gold rough coats and are working dogs.
Police officers are appealing for witnesses to come forward.
Con Rachel Royan, of Police Scotland, said: "At eight weeks old the puppies are too young to have left their mother, who was not taken, and the owners are extremely concerned for their welfare.
"We would urge anyone who saw anything suspicious in or around Glendevon Park on Wednesday to please get in touch as we are keen to reunite them with their owners."


Hearts have signed former Motherwell goalkeeper Lee Hollis on a short-term deal following injuries to Neil Alexander and Scott Gallagher.

Alexander sustained a broken cheekbone in the last week's victory over former club Rangers.
And Gallacher twisted his ankle in training, making him a doubt for Sunday's Edinburgh derby with Hibernian at Tynecastle.
Hollis, 28, spent four seasons at Well after a six-year spell with Airdrie.
He became a free agent after leaving Motherwell this summer.
"I said earlier in the week that we would be looking at the situation after Neil's injury," Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson told his club website.
"Lee's an experienced goalkeeper and has spent the last few seasons with Motherwell and has played in Europe for them."


Nato has hit back at a report urging the alliance to investigate fully the deaths of civilians in air strikes in Libya last year.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said at least 72 civilians had been killed in the strikes and the bloc needed to bear responsibility where appropriate.
But Nato's spokeswoman said the campaign was conducted "with unprecedented care and precision".
She said Nato "did everything possible to minimise risks to civilians".
"But in a complex military campaign, that risk can never be zero," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu acknowledged.
She added that the alliance "looked into each credible allegation" of harm to civilians and "confirmed that the specific targets struck by Nato were legitimate military targets".
Aircraft from the US, the UK and France conducted most of the 9,658 strike sorties last year, targeting forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.
The point of the Nato air campaign in Libya last year was to protect civilians, so how many innocent people died is still a sensitive issue, BBC diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall reports.
In its report published on Monday
, the US-based HRW said it had examined in detail evidence of claims of civilian deaths from eight separate Nato strikes.
In one instance, it said a first bomb killed 14 people and a second, moments later, killed 18 more who had rushed to help victims.
"We're calling for prompt, credible and thorough investigations," HRW's Fred Abrahams, the main author of the report, told BBC News.
Mr Abrahams says Nato refuses to acknowledge the deaths and has offered no compensation to families.
"Until now, Nato has taken a position of denial," he said.
"I think it will lead to unnecessary civilian deaths in the future if Nato refuses to look at what went wrong and make corrections."
In March, another human rights organisation,
          Amnesty International, said it had documented 55 cases
 of named civilians, including 16 children and 14 women, killed in air strikes.
It said Nato had failed to investigate these cases thoroughly.
Source: Nato
Adel Ebsat, a relative of three victims who died from an air strike near the eastern town of Zlitan, told the BBC he had repeatedly asked the Libyan government to launch a case against Nato and for an investigation to be carried out.
But there appears to be a reluctance by Libyan officials to hold Nato accountable for any civilian deaths that may have been caused by air strikes, the BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli reports.
Most Libyans feel that the alliance helped the country succeed in its uprising against Col Gaddafi, which toppled and killed him last year, our correspondent says.
The overwhelming belief, she adds, is that countless deaths were avoided because of the West's intervention.
Nato has stressed that it is ready to co-operate with the new Libyan authorities in assessing what further action is appropriate.
However, the alliance says it cannot take responsibility because it has had no presence on the ground to confirm the deaths.


Sinn Fein will make a decision on Friday about whether Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will meet the Queen during her visit to Northern Ireland next week.

Mr McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson have been invited to attend a Co-operation Ireland reception along with the Queen and Irish President Michael D Higgins.
The invitation is being discussed at a special Sinn Fein leadership meeting in Dublin.
A decision is expected on Friday afternoon.
In the past, Sinn Fein leaders have boycotted Royal visits to Ireland.
Sinn Fein's Conor Murphy told the BBC:  "We always were prepared to consider a genuine proposition and we have one on the table now."
By Mark SimpsonBBC Ireland Correspondent
The sight of Martin McGuinness and the Queen shaking hands will be one of the landmark moments of the peace process.
It will not be the last bit of the jigsaw, but it will be the last big bit.
A former IRA leader meeting the British monarch would once have been viewed as implausible, unthinkable and impossible. Now it seems inevitable.
The Newry and Armagh MP said there were significant challenges for Irish republicans with the Queen's status as head of the armed forces.
However, he said the meeting was about recognising the contribution the Queen made during her visit to Ireland last year when she visited Dublin's Garden of Remembrance.
The Queen, who is to visit Northern Ireland on Tuesday and Wednesday, is joint patron of Co-operation Ireland with the Irish President.
The reception will coincide with the Queen's visit to Northern Ireland, but is not part of her scheduled programme of Jubilee celebrations.
The cross-border event is to focus on a celebration of local arts.
Former Sinn Fein publicity director Danny Morrison said he was in favour of a public handshake taking place between the Queen and Mr McGuinness.
"It's a huge advance in terms of symbolism," he said.
"Myself and others organised a 'Queen of Death' march in 1977, as we viewed the Queen coming over here as a triumphalist endorsement of the state forces in their war against the republican community.
"We had a peaceful march which was attacked with plastic and rubber bullets - we were enraged back then, and there's hurt on all sides."
Royal Correspondent Peter Hunt said a meeting between a Sinn Fein leader and the Queen had become inevitable since her visit to Ireland last year.
"It won't quite be that the Queen will be on roller blades rushing through, but I don't think it will be a long meeting," he said.
"I think it will be reasonably short and I also suspect that the actual handshake may well be in private."
UDA leader Jackie McDonald said the Queen had "broken the mould" by her visit to the Republic of Ireland last year.
He said he would welcome any meeting between the Queen and Mr McGuinness as a "step forward".


The new series of Top Gear will have a sister show called Extra Gear, the BBC has confirmed.

The new spin-off will bring fans exclusive footage, interviews and behind-the-scenes access to the main show.
It will be presented by Rory Reid, who has already been announced as one of the seven new Top Gear presenters.
Extra Gear, which begins in May, will be made available on BBC Three and distributed on BBC Worldwide.
Reid said Extra Gear was "hugely exciting" as Top Gear fans were "some of the keenest in the world and with this show, I'm giving them a chance to really get a peek behind the curtain".
"I'm looking forward to showing them how the show is made and what goes on behind the scenes, giving viewers a different perspective on some of the coolest cars on the planet."
Top Gear will return to BBC Two in May in its regular Sunday night slot.
It will be the first series to air since the departure of Jeremy Clarkson, who left the show last year after an "unprovoked physical attack" on a producer.
His co-stars James May and Richard Hammond also exited the show. All three have since been signed up to present a new motoring programme for Amazon Prime.
Matt LeBlanc and Chris Evans will front the new series of Top Gear, alongside Reid, Sabine Schmitz, Chris Harris and Eddie Jordan.
Extra Gear will be made available immediately after episodes of the main show have been broadcast, the BBC said.


Pressures on GPs in England and Wales are so great they feel they are failing patients and potentially providing unsafe care, doctors leaders say.

British Medical Association GP leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said doctors were having to rush patients to keep up.
And he said this could be potentially dangerous in terms of identifying cancer and getting medicines right.
But ministers in England responded by promising they would invest in services to address the concerns.
The frank admission by Dr Nagpaul comes as the BMA releases the results of an online survey of nearly 2,900 practices in England and 145 in Wales - about one in three of the total in both nations.
In England it showed that 55% thought the quality of the service their practices was providing had deteriorated in the past 12 months.
Some 68% said their workload was unmanageable, while 92% reported demand had increased in the past year.
Similar findings were reported in Wales.
Dr Nagpaul said: "It is unsustainable and getting to the point where it is not safe. The ageing population means many of our patients have multiple conditions and are on multiple medicines, but we simply don't have the time to properly consider how they interact.
"On cancer we are having to make rushed decisions. And we are seeing growing numbers of patients with dementia - and yet just have 10 minutes to see them.
"It's not enough. We are being forced to let down patients. We need to see more investment in general practice so we can keep up with demand and have longer 15-minute consultations."
Figures cover England only
The issue has been raised by the BMA just a week after the NHS England report into the death of 12-month-old William Mead, from Cornwall, highlighted workload pressures as one of the possible reasons GPs failed to properly diagnose his chest infection.
Mr Nagpaul believes another 10,000 GPs could be needed to plug the current gap in England - the government has promised another 5,000 this Parliament, but that is expected to cover the push to provide seven-day opening.
To pay for this, funding for GPs will be increasing by 5% every year, the government has said.
Health minister Alistair Burt added: "General practice is at the heart of the improvement we want to see in the NHS. We recognise absolutely that it is under pressure, which is why we are delivering record investment.
"The health secretary will shortly announce further support for GPs, which should assist in meeting the pressures doctors are reporting."
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French investigators say they have discovered body parts at the farm of a man who earlier admitted killing four of his relatives.

The remains were found in a remote part of north-western Brittany after Hubert Caouissin was let out of custody to lead the investigators to the location.
He earlier confessed to killing Pascal Troadec, his wife Brigitte, and their two children in an inheritance row.
He said he had battered them to death with a crowbar at their home in Nantes.
Mr Caouissin was arrested last week along with his former wife Lydie, Mr Troadec's sister.
The discovery of body parts at the farm in de Pont-de-Buis-les-Quimerch was announced by prosecutor Pierre Sennes on Wednesday. Family jewellery was also found. The remains are yet to be identified.
Pascal and Brigitte Troadec, both aged 49, their son Sebastien, 21, and daughter Charlotte, 18, were last seen in mid-February.
At a news conference last week, Mr Sennes said Mr Caouissin had admitted using a crowbar to bludgeon the family at their home in Nantes.
On 16 February, he spied on the Troadecs' home, using a stethoscope to listen through the windows, Mr Sennes said.
That night he broke into the house, apparently with the aim of stealing a key. The family awoke when they heard a noise, and a fight broke out between the intruder and Pascal Troadec.
Mr Caouissin killed Mr Troadec first, and then the rest of the family, Mr Sennes added.
The prosecutor said Mr Caouissin dismembered the bodies, burying some parts and burning others.
Mr Caouissin has no previous criminal record. He now faces possible life imprisonment.
The role of Lydie Troadec is not yet clear, but she is accused of helping to clean the vehicle used to dispose of the bodies.
The inheritance argument reportedly centres on gold bars found during works at a building in Brest owned by Mr Troadec's father, who died several years ago.
However, Mr Caouissin's mother has told journalists that the existence of the gold bars was a "myth".


A court in Germany has ruled that circumcising young boys for religious reasons amounts to bodily harm.

In a decision that has caused outrage among Jewish and Muslim groups, the court said that a child's right to physical integrity trumps religious and parental rights.
The case involved a doctor who carried out a circumcision on a four year-old that led to medical complications.
Thousands of Muslim and Jewish boys are circumcised in Germany every year.
Although male circumcision - unlike female circumcision - is not illegal in Germany, the court's judgement said the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents".
Circumcision, it decided, contravenes "interests of the child to decide later in life on his religious beliefs".
The doctor involved in the case was acquitted and the ruling is not binding, but correspondents say it sets a precedent that would be taken into account by other German courts.
The president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann, called it "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in the right of religious communities to self-determination".
He urged the country's parliament to clarify the legal situation "to protect religious freedom against attacks".
Male circumcision is part of the ancient religious rituals of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths, as well as the traditions of some tribal groups.
In some countries, such as the United States, it is also not uncommon for parents to request that young boys are circumcised for health reasons.
The BBC's Stephen Evans in Germany says it is unclear what the next legal step will be, but this issue is a moral and political minefield.


A Brecon man who murdered a soldier in the town has been sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years in prison.

Jake Vallely, 24 - who had described himself as "the hardest man in Brecon" - beat 20-year-old Private Matthew Boyd to death in May.
Pte Boyd's mother Michelle Rogers said her son's death had caused "unbearable pain".
At Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Lewis said the killing was a "savage and senseless attack".
Vallely was found guilty of murder on 1 December following a two-week trial.
After a night of drinking, the former boxer had pursued Pte Boyd through the Powys town before carrying out what Mr Justice Lewis described as a "sustained attack on a young man lying defenceless in the road".
Pte Boyd, who is originally from Carrickfergus, County Antrim, had been in the town for training exercises at the infantry battle school.
Sentencing Vallely, Mr Justice Lewis told him Pte Boyd was "entirely innocent and did not provoke you in any way. You chased him down and attacked him for no other reason than you wanted trouble".
The judge said: "You hit him time and time again until he was unconscious. This was a sustained, savage and senseless attack.
"You dragged his motionless body into the street and left him there to die. You showed no remorse then and you have shown no remorse since."
Members of Pte Boyd's family were not in court today for the sentencing.
They have returned to Gibraltar where they live, but victim impact statements were read out during the sentencing.
His mother Michelle Rogers said: "His life was taken in the blink of an eye. My son will not knock at my door again. There are times I text or call his mobile. I cry every night before I sleep, if I sleep. How can I explain the pain in my heart?
"It is unbearable, he has taken my son's life and destroyed our family."
His stepfather Jeremy Rogers said: "I don't want the pain to go away because if the pain goes away, so will Matthew."


Dan Evans took extra satisfaction from beating Bernard Tomic at the US Open after once being told he was not good enough to practise with the Australian.

The British number three won their second-round encounter 1-6 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 at Flushing Meadows on Thursday.
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And Evans recalled how Tomic's father, John, said in Miami last year that his son would not practise with him.
"I was there playing qualifiers," said Evans, 23. "His dad said I wasn't good enough to practise with him."
He added: "We went to practise, it was all booked, I got to the practice hut. His dad said: 'No, no, he's a qualifier, I'm not hitting with you'.
"So it was one of those. A bit embarrassing, but hey."
Evans has known Bernard Tomic since junior days and said: "I don't think it was his doing. He wasn't there."
The 20-year-old Australian could do little to contain a rampant Evans after the first set on Thursday, and the man from Birmingham said afterwards it was the best win of his career.
A fourth-round meeting with Roger Federer is a tantalising prospect, but Evans' next opponent will take a lot of wearing down first. Tommy Robredo recovered from two-sets-to-love down three times in a row at this year's French Open.
"That's probably the best I've had to fight back," said the world number 179. "In the Davis Cup, I've always been pretty much up when I've won the matches."
Evans has guaranteed himself £60,000 for reaching the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, and he will next face Spanish 19th seed Tommy Robredo.
The Briton's rapid ascent in recent months was given a stamp of approval by Roger Federer on Wednesday, when the five-time US Open champion chose to practise with him. They could yet meet for real in the fourth round.
"It was amazing to hit with someone so good," said Evans. "I really enjoyed it, actually had a really good hit.
"It was a very good experience. He's a nice guy, was interested in what I did. It was good."
And Evans admitted that the only downside to his victory on Thursday was the fact that he needed his nipples taped at one stage, in full view of the watching world.
"I don't know what it was, it was just agony," he said. "The stick I'm going to get back home is devastating."
Tomic, ranked 52nd, said he knew the match would be a test after Evans beat 11th seed Kei Nishikori in the first round.
"It shows you anybody can play in the top 250," he said. "A lot of guys can play. It's just a matter of consistency. The guys in the top 100 and top 50 are more consistent.
"He's playing well for the first time. This is his best result. He played very well against Kei. I knew if he beat Kei it was going to be difficult.
"I think I started well but just lost the concentration, lost my energy level.  I couldn't execute my shots, go after my shots, and from then he took over."


Parents have been urged to watch out for harmful weeds after two boys were hospitalised in Bolton.

Reid Daley, 13, and a friend touched giant hogweed at Moses Gate Country Park, Farnworth on Saturday while playing.
Toxic sap from the weed, which grows near canals and rivers, can increase the sensitivity of the skin to sunlight, often leading to burns.
Bolton Council said the weed had since been removed from the park.
Reid and three friends found a patch of the plants and started to play amongst them. He woke up the following day with rashes to his skin and was taken to hospital.
He said: "They started to blister up as I was in the sunlight.
"I was in agony, every time I moved or touched something with it it was like someone was poking me with a needle. It just wouldn't stop."
After contact, the burns can last for several months and the skin can remain sensitive to light for many years.
The plant, which resembles cow parsley, can grow about 16ft (5m) high and has leaves up to 5ft (1.5m) wide.
It can be identified by its reddish-purple stem with fine spines, and its spotted leaf stalks.
Mathew Cocklin, Reid's stepfather, said: "I couldn't believe we didn't know about it; most people don't know about it.
"It's just a weed. You are not expecting it to cause severe damage."
The weed originated in the Caucasus mountains and was introduced into Britain by Victorian plant collectors.


Broughty Ferry continues to be Scotland's busiest lifeboat station with crews called out 92 times in 2016.

The station's volunteers responded to exactly the same number of calls in 2015.
The all-weather lifeboat Elizabeth of Glamis was launched 33 times with the smaller inshore lifeboat called upon 59 times.
Broughty Ferry lifeboat station was also the 11th busiest in the UK last year.
The lifeboat crews rescued 29 people in 2016, an increase of 45% from the previous year.


Mass manufacturing has been the engine driving Vietnam's extraordinary growth in recent years and its success has been built on the efforts of millions of workers like Huynh Van Hai.

Hai was born in Hue in 1987, and moved 400 miles south to Vietnam's commercial capital Ho Chi Minh to find work.
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He lives with a brother and sister in a poor part of the city, the dwelling doubling as a workshop. Making clothes continues long into the night, as the family try to supplement the money that Hai makes working in a large factory for textile company Cartina during the day.
"In general the salary and working conditions here are ok," he says. "No problem. My salary is enough to get by."
Hai has been working in this industry for ten years, starting as a delivery boy at 16, and then moving to bigger manufacturing businesses and onto the factory floor to make the clothes that often sell in the department stores and smart shops of Europe, Japan and the USA.
On a normal day, Hai works a ten-hour shift, starting at seven in the morning and finishing at five in the afternoon. He usually works extra time if he can. There are from two to four hours on top of his normal shift.
Hai lives in a small house built on what used to be a cemetery, with his young sister, her husband and his youngest brother who has just moved to the city for another manufacturing job.
At home, they all work on private garment manufacturing orders to earn extra income to send back to their parents and a younger sister, who has polio.
His immediate wish is for his sister to stay healthy. In the future, he simply wishes to build a family of his own in the city.
"I wish that I had a life with family and all that," he says. "Working as a textile worker like this forever is very tiring."


And so a perfect career ends in an imperfect way.

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Usain Bolt's defeat by Justin Gatlin in the last individual 100m he will ever run proved several things: that sport has less time for happy endings than scripted dramas; that time catches up even with someone who has made it his business escaping it; and that even the biggest party can be pooped if you let the wrong characters in.
East End dramas need their villains, and on Saturday night in Stratford Gatlin played that role to eye-popping perfection.
Twice caught doping, once facing a lifetime ban that was reduced first to eight years and then to four, he has long been the anti-poster boy for track and field - lacking any obvious remorse, humility left for others, a frequent swaggering reminder that cheats can still prosper should their legal team find the right angle to work.
Not all the rancour has made logical sense. Others at these World Championships have returned from suspensions. Russia is banned indefinitely for its 21st century take on state-sponsored doping. Only Gatlin was booed every time he took to the blocks, from heats on Friday morning to semi-finals on Saturday evening and then the final itself.
So it was that as he thrust his upper body across the finish line just after 21:45 BST - almost unnoticed in lane eight, outside the peripheral vision of Bolt in four and young American Christian Coleman in five - a wave of shock rolled around the packed slabs of supporters, turning to disbelief, to not wanting to accept what had just happened, to hoping something might suddenly be revealed to make it right.
Gatlin does not find charm easy to access. He slammed on the brakes, jumped to attention and put a single, admonishing finger to his lips, daring the crowd to mock him now.
Revenge, it seemed, was his - for the catcalls of the past two days, for those who considered him shot at 35, for the mess Bolt has made of his tilts at world and Olympic gold since he returned to competition an older and unapologetic man in 2010.
And then you heard the crowd respond again, first the thousands close to him on the top bend, then those all around the oval track.
"Usain Bolt! Usain Bolt! Usain Bolt!"
This was Gatlin's moment of triumph: unacknowledged, unwanted, first mocking and then being mocked in return.
The lap of honour? That went to Bolt. The first interview with the in-field presenter? Bolt. The one all the spectators ran down to trackside to touch and to photograph and to seize for selfies? Bolt.
A victory, but a pyrrhic one. A defeat, but one that was treated like a triumph.
The strangest of nights, and a strange truth: Gatlin may have deserved all of that - but he deserved this win too, in its technique and focus if not its ancestry.
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In 2015, expected to beat an ailing Bolt at the last World Championships in Beijing. He had led with 15 metres to run only to over-stride with triumph in front of him and let the king cling on to his crown. Now, at an age when his youthful speed has leached away, he ran through the line as if nothing could touch him.
Bolt's reaction to the gun was the slowest of anyone in the race. Five hundredths of a second ceded to Gatlin before a metre had been run, a hundredth more to Coleman.
When the chase came, the invisible bungee cord of old had been replaced by a rope. There was acceleration but no surge. The champion tightened, but not the American kid nor the compatriot 14 years his senior.
Gatlin finished in 9.92 seconds, Coleman in 9.94, Bolt in 9.95. Never before had the 30-year-old Jamaican run so slowly in a major final. In this same stadium, five golden summers ago, he had run 9.63. You can't keep stopping the clock. One day it will stop you.
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The World Championships have defined Bolt and given him a simple narrative.
Berlin 2009: his world record of 9.58, the greatest run of all. Daegu 2011: disqualified for a false start, his greatest disappointment. Beijing 2015: the defeat from nowhere of Gatlin, arguably his greatest miracle.
This was supposed to be the great finale. That the story was hijacked by a darker subplot will leave some feeling as if something sacred has been blemished, that same sense of sadness experienced by those who saw boxer Muhammad Ali beaten in 10 melancholic rounds by Trevor Berbick in his own concluding fight.
Yet sometimes perfection itself can become hard to understand when it seems to come so easy. In defeat, we can look back at all the glories of the past nine years and see that none were preordained and all claimed through an unprecedented blend of latent talent and unremitting hard work.
Bolt has done so much on the track that no other human has ever managed. That his last individual race revealed him to have a few mortal flaws after all should not undermine his status.
He talked of wanting to be remembered like Ali, like Pele. He will be.
Gatlin has his world title - but never will he win the same affection nor respect. An imperfect ending, but with its own little perfections too.
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Canada has launched an investigation into missing and murdered indigenous women that will cost nearly C$14m (£8m) more than expected.

Five independent commissioners will provide recommendations to deal with violence against the country's indigenous women.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett announced the inquiry at an emotional ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec.
The inquiry will last at least two years and cost up to $53.8m (£30.8m).
Though the federal government has launched the commission, each province has agreed to allow the commissioners to look at all jurisdictions, including whether local law enforcement or governments played a part.
The commission will also have the authority to summon witnesses to testify.
The investigation is expected to focus on the systemic causes of violence against indigenous women as well as recommendations on prevention.
A 2015 United Nations report revealed that young indigenous women in Canada were five times more likely to die under violent circumstances than non-Aboriginal women.
Families of victims have argued that police do not investigate missing indigenous women with the same scrutiny for cases involving white women.
The five commissioners are Marion Buller, British Columbia's first female First Nations judge; Michele Audette, a former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada; Qajaq Robinson, a Nunavut-born lawyer who focuses on aboriginal law; Marilyn Poitras, a law professor at the University of Saskatchewan; and Brian Eyolfson, a First Nations lawyer who served on the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario.
The investigation is set to begin in September and will run through 31 December, 2018.
BBC reporter Joanna Jolly went on the trail of the murdered and missing to find out why so many of Winnipeg's Aboriginal women and girls have been killed. Read full article


England's Euro 2017 squad will take "major confidence" from fans believing they can win the competition, says coach Mark Sampson.

Their 1-0 victory over France on Sunday was watched by 3.3 million people, making it the biggest peak TV audience for women's football.
Sampson's side will next face the Netherlands in Thursday's semi-final.
"The support is a huge inspiration to the players and a massive driver for them," Sampson told BBC Radio 5 live.
The 34-year-old is the first England manager since Sir Alf Ramsey in 1968 to reach consecutive semi-finals at major tournaments.
"It's probably been a long time that there was a genuine belief that an English team can go and win a major championship," he said.
"We're very proud that some of the English public believe this team can go on and win. We take immense pride from that and a major sense of confidence."
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It has been a successful year for women's sport in England, with the national cricket team winning the World Cup and British number one Johanna Konta reaching the Wimbledon semi-finals.
England have reached the last four at the Euros on four previous occasions, most recently in 2009, when they were beaten by Germany in the final.
Home favourites the Netherlands have had vocal support throughout the competition, with all of their group games sold out and a record 21,731 fans watching their opening game.
"These are the types of occasions the players want to be involved in," Sampson added.
"When they were younger they never played in front of bigger crowds. Now, we've got the potential to play in games where there's lots of people in the stands and watching at home.
"All that hard work we put in wouldn't be recognised or rewarded if we didn't enjoy these moments."


The funerals of three teenagers who were abducted and murdered while hitch-hiking in the occupied West Bank have been held in Israel.

Addressing thousands of mourners, PM Benjamin Netanyahu described their killers as "heinous murderers".
Israel has blamed the Palestinian militant group Hamas for the deaths. Hamas has denied any involvement.
The youths' bodies were found on Monday evening, more than two weeks after the trio went missing.
Mr Netanyahu has said Hamas will be made to pay a price for the killings.
Speaking at the joint funeral held for Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach in central Israel, Mr Netanyahu said "a broad moral gulf separates us from our enemy. They sanctify death, we sanctify life".
After holding a second meeting of his security cabinet in 24 hours, Mr Netanyahu outlined the following objectives:
At the scene: Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Jerusalem
The scenes at the funeral of the three murdered teenagers were extraordinary.
In burning afternoon sunshine, tens of thousands of mourners made their way through the steep, arid landscape outside the central Israeli town of Modein to this tiny hilltop cemetery.
The crowds were large enough to delay the start of proceedings.
When the funeral began, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the speakers - although there were reports that the families had asked him not to address the issue of any possible Israeli response to Hamas.
Mr Netanyahu saw a lesson in the tragedy that resonates for him with broader Jewish history.
"One nation stood together," he said, "and got a reminder of who we are and why we are here."
As day gave way to night here on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide, the question of how Israel will respond to this bitter loss was being asked with greater urgency.
Earlier, Israeli media released a recording of the emergency call made to police by one of the teenagers shortly after the abduction.
A voice, thought to be that of Gilad Shaar, is heard saying "I was kidnapped", followed by another voice shouting "Head down!".
Police have confirmed the recording is authentic.  The call was initially dismissed as a hoax, delaying the search efforts.
Overnight, Israel launched more than 30 air strikes on facilities linked to militant groups in the Gaza Strip after 18 rockets had been fired into Israel since Sunday night, the Israeli military reported.
The teenagers' bodies were found under a pile of rocks near the Palestinian town of Halhul. An Israeli official said it appeared the youths had been shot soon after their abduction.
Israeli troops flooded into Halhul after the discovery.
Israel's Shin Bet security agency had named named two Hamas members from Hebron - Marwan Qawasmeh, and Amer Abu Aisha - as suspects. The Israeli military raided the homes of both men, setting off explosives.
Palestinian witnesses said Abu Aisha's home was destroyed.
Israeli security forces have set up blockades and closed down whole areas around Halhul, a few kilometres from where the teenagers were last seen.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called an emergency meeting of the Palestinian leadership and has expressed "regret" over the deaths.
The disappearance of the teenagers on 12 June sparked a huge search operation in Palestinian towns and cities across the West Bank.
More than 400 Palestinians were arrested, while five were killed by Israeli troops.
Mr Netanyahu has said the incident is a consequence of "the partnership" between Hamas, which rejects Israel's right to exist, and the Fatah movement of Mr Abbas.
The two signed a reconciliation deal in April after years of division and formed a unity government last month.


Clarinettist Acker Bilk, who personified the trad jazz revival of the 1950s and '60s, has died after a lengthy illness at the age of 85.

His most famous song Stranger on the Shore was the UK's biggest selling single of 1962 and made him an international star.
Born Bernard Stanley Bilk, he changed his name to Acker - Somerset slang for "mate" - after learning to play the clarinet in the Army.
His last concert was in August 2013.
Pamela Sutton, who was Bilk's manager for 45 years, said he had "been ill for some time", adding: "He was my great friend and his music was legendary."
Born in Pensford in Somerset, Bilk tried a number of different careers before borrowing a clarinet and copying recordings of famous jazz musicians while in the Army.
He formed his first band in Bristol after his demobilisation.
Known for his goatee, bowler hat and fancy waistcoat, Bilk was awarded an MBE in 2001 for services to the music industry.
He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2000 but recovered and continued to play concerts, the last of which was at the Brecon Festival last year.
Bilk told the BBC in a 2012 interview that when he wrote his biggest hit Stranger on the Shore, he did not immediately realise it was special.
The instrumental made him the first artist to have a simultaneous chart-topping hit in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
"I didn't think it was much different from any of the rest of it," he said.
"It was just a thing that came out of my head, that's all. I didn't sort of work on it or do much at all with it."
Besides Stranger on the Shore, Bilk also had hits with tunes such as Summer Set and Buona Sera.
He sold millions of records and won an Ivor Novello award.
"RIP ol' liquorice stick," tweeted broadcaster Danny Baker on hearing the news, describing Bilk as a "good jazzer & eternal answer to question: 'What UK artist had 1st number one in USA?'"
Poet Ian McMillan also paid tribute to the musician, describing him as the "creator of one of the great earworms. That shore was strange, but memorable."
Kenny Ball Junior, whose father Kenny Ball played alongside Bilk, said he had fond memories of the two of them playing together.
"He was such a wonderful player," he told the BBC. "He conquered everywhere. He was such a lovely bloke, a very genuine guy."
Bilk leaves his wife Jean, daughter Jenny and son Pete.


Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has put aside £125m to pay compensation to customers affected by the recent breakdown in its computer systems.

Account holders at RBS and its NatWest and Ulster Bank subsidiaries faced disruption for up to two weeks in June after a software upgrade at the bank.
RBS released the compensation figure as it reported a half-year loss of £1.5bn, compared with £794m a year earlier.
Much of the loss was caused by a £3bn accounting charge.
This was a result of the bank having to change the valuation of its debt.
The bank's revenues for the six months to 30 June fell 8% to £13.2bn.
Investors appeared to give the results a warm welcome, as RBS's shares ended Friday trading in London up 5.6%.
RBS chief executive Stephen Hester told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is a pretty tough external environment, but I think we are making good progress."
Hester: Banks detached from society
RBS also said it had set aside a further £135m to cover compensation for customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance, taking the total up to £1.3bn.
In addition, it will pay out up to £50m to cover claims from small businesses who were mis-sold specialist insurance, known as interest rate swaps.
The bank is 82% owned by the government, which needed to bail it out in 2008 and 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
It announced in May that it had repaid the last of the £163bn in emergency loans it received from the UK and US governments.
Mr Hester added in a statement: "We have continued to make the bank safer and stronger as we clean up problems of the past.
"And despite the tougher economy, these results show our ongoing businesses to be more resilient than before, with many further improvements underway."
RBS confirmed that it had dismissed a number of traders linked to the Libor rate-fixing scandal that saw fellow bank Barclays fined £290m in June.
RBS said it was continuing to co-operate with investigations, but that it was not yet possible to measure the future impact on the bank, such as the timing and amount of any fines or settlements.
The bank added that during the half-year its staffing costs fell 4% as it cut 5,700 jobs, primarily in its markets and international banking arm.
Mr Hester also told the BBC that the banking industry, "became a bit detached from society and it is coming down to earth with a bump".
He said it needed to change its culture to put customers first.
RBS also confirmed that the sales of shares in its Direct Line insurance business would take place in October.
The European Union ruled that it had to sell the business by the end of 2014 as one of the conditions of RBS securing its bailout from the UK government.
Ian Gordon, analyst at brokerage Investec, welcomed RBS's latest results.
"While MPs and regulators focus their energies on soundbites and gesture-politics, RBS management continues to make useful progress in terms of balance sheet repair," he said.
However, pressure group Move Your Money UK, which is calling for greater reform of the UK banking sector, was unimpressed.
"RBS results show just how fundamentally flawed our current banking model is," it said.


Stephen Ferris believes Ireland will be well on the way to beating France if they can curb in-form Louis Picamoles in Saturday's Six Nations game.

Picamoles has been a barnstorming force for France so far in the Six Nations and will also be part of a back row unit targeting fit-again Johnny Sexton.
"Picamoles is France's Sergio Parisse. When he plays well, France play well," said former Ireland flanker Ferris.
"We must aim to turn one of their strengths into a weakness on the day."
Ferris feels that the Irish back row trio of CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip are "more than capable" of shutting down the running and off-loading presence of the Northampton number eight.
Picamoles has been blasting through tackles almost at will thus far in the Six Nations and his ability to find onrushing team-mates with accurate passes has also been a factor in France's promising start to this year's tournament.
The French looked likely winners in their opener at Twickenham before losing out 19-16 to England and Guy Noves' side then held off Scotland 22-16 in Paris last time out.
"CJ Stander, Sean O'Brien and Jamie Heaslip will not be scared of Picamoles," added Ferris, who won 36 caps for Ireland between 2006-2012 before being forced to retire because of an ankle injury.
"They've played against him many times and in different competitions. If you can keep their key players quiet, you will go a long way to winning the game."
Former British & Irish Lion Ferris adds that Ireland captain Rory Best and props Jack McGrath and Tadhg Furlong face an important task in competing against France front-row trio Cyril Baille, Guilhem Guirado and Rabah Slimani.
"The set-piece is going to be massive. They have a big front row. We need to get parity there.
"Overall, I think it's going to be an incredibly physical game. France look a lot fitter this year and their players are getting around the pitch a lot more.
"In France's game against Scotland, I don't know how many Head Injury Assessments there were - boys coming off left, right and centre."
Ferris also expects Sexton to have a number of set moves prepared to test the French defence.
"With Johnny playing 10, I'm sure Joe Schmidt will have a couple of power plays up his sleeve to breaks these guys.
"Overall, I think Ireland are playing good rugby. Apart from that opening 25 or 30 minutes at Murrayfield, they have been playing some tremendous stuff.
"So for me, it's going to be an Ireland victory. They are going to have to work hard for it. It's not going to be one of those games when you can just turn up and France fold.
"It's going to be a tough ask but it's going to be all about of getting parity up front, getting front-foot ball and working them through the phases."


Aberavon will host Merthyr in the Welsh Premiership Tier One final at Talbot Athletic Ground on Sunday, 21 May.

On Saturday Merthyr beat RGC 1404 35-7 and will meet the Wizards, who beat Bedwas 31-25 a day later.
Newport beat Llanelli 22-17 to reach the Tier Two final and will take on Neath.
The Welsh All Blacks beat Cross Keys 33-13 at the Gnoll to ensure their final spot that will determine who is best of the bottom half of the table.


A charity is bidding for up to £6m to tackle what it describes as an "epidemic of loneliness and isolation" among older people in Plymouth, Devon.

If successful, the Big Lottery Fund money will be used to pay for affordable transport, new social groups and activities to help older people get more involved in the community.
Plymouth is one of 32 local authority areas bidding for the cash.
Ageing Better Plymouth project is being run by Plymouth Guild.
According to a report by Age UK, about 10% of the over 65s in the UK - more than 900,00 - are lonely most of the time and the number at risk of loneliness is much larger.
George Plenderleith, from Plymouth Guild, said combating loneliness and social isolation could help to prevent depression and anxiety, thereby reducing the pressure on health services.
Mary Norsworthy, 66, from the Mannamead area of the city said she had to give up her social life to become a full-time carer for her 83-year-old husband Ivor, who has advanced dementia.
"It just stopped - it came to a halt and just stopped dead," Mrs Norsworthy told BBC Radio Devon's Julie Fisher.
"Life ended and I became a full-time carer, 24 hours a day.
"I used to end up crying with frustration - and sometimes I would wake up crying because I knew the day was going to be like it was going to be."
Mr Plenderleith said dealing with such a major issue could not simply be left to Plymouth City Council.
"We've got to look at creative ways of doing things - it's about charities and volunteers and it's about trying to create, dare I say, a more cohesive society that older people are more engaged in," he added.
To prepare its funding bid, Plymouth Guild has been working with groups such as Age UK, the Alzheimer's Society, British Red Cross and Plymouth University of the 3rd Age.
Ageing Better Plymouth's vision and strategy will be submitted in April and in July, the Big Lottery Fund will select 15 - 20 partnerships.


Goals from David Silva and Sergio Aguero gave Manchester City a deserved win over Middlesbrough and earned Pep Guardiola's side a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.

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Silva scored just three minutes in from six yards out after Pablo Zabaleta had time and space to cross low from the right.
Middlesbrough goalkeeper Brad Guzan produced a number of fine saves to deny Silva, Leroy Sane and deflect an Aguero shot on to the post.
But Aguero finally made the result safe for the visitors when he converted from Sane's low cross to earn his side a Wembley semi-final.
City have reached the last four of the FA Cup for the first time in four years as Guardiola aims to win some silverware in his first season in English football.
The Spanish manager also had the luxury of taking off Sane and Aguero before City play the second leg of their last-16 Champions League tie in Monaco on Wednesday. City hold a 5-3 lead after a thrilling first leg.
City had defeated West Ham, Crystal Palace and Huddersfield Town so far in the competition and completely dominated against Middlesbrough.
The visitors had 69% of possession and 10 shots on target compared with only three from the hosts at a packed Riverside Stadium.
City's movement off the ball was excellent as they repeatedly carved open a Boro defence that could not cope with the visitors.
Poor marking enabled Zabaleta to get free early on and his low cross was missed by Raheem Sterling before Silva lashed City ahead.
Only an outstanding performance by Guzan kept his side in it as he produced a number of saves to frustrate the visitors.
Aguero, who had earlier hit the post, got a goal he deserved when he finished well from the delivery from the excellent Sane.
For Middlesbrough, 18th in the Premier League, it was another afternoon to forget.
Not only were they outclassed, they also suffered two injuries to key players as forward Rudy Gestede and defender Bernardo limped off.
Gestede had two attempts - heading just over and also having a header cleared off the line by Pablo Zabaleta - before going off after only 26 minutes with what appeared to be a lower back injury.
Boro have scored the fewest goals in the Premier League - 19 in 27 matches - and may now be without a striker who only joined them in January in a £6m move from Aston Villa.
Defender Bernardo also went off early in the second half with 19-year-old centre-half Dael Fry coming on to make only his second appearance of the season.
Boro, against the run of play, had a late chance to score but John Stones cleared off the line after goalkeeper Claudio Bravo had parried Fabio's header.
With 11 Premier League games left, Boro can now focus their attentions on trying to stay in the top flight.
Former England winger Chris Waddle on BBC Radio 5 live
It's not all about the FA Cup, they need to survive in the Premier League too, but Middlesbrough really couldn't have done much when City are in this form. They have had a football lesson.
City were always going to win this, we knew that when we saw the team sheet. They had put the big boys on the pitch.
Full credit to Middlesbrough. They are an honest, genuine side but were just lacking in a class finisher. It was 2-0 but it could have been a lot, lot more.
I do fear for Middlesbrough. They have got to be more adventurous against teams in the bottom half - the ones you think they should beat.
They are currently playing a counter-attacking game and, apart from Adama Traore, they don't have the legs to get forward quickly.
Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka, speaking to BBC Sport, said: "It is easy to say that the best team won, but I am really proud of my players - they made an amazing effort.
"This is the way we need to keep competing because we will win more than lose. The past two games were awful for us so I was a bit concerned about the atmosphere when they scored the first goal so quickly, but they keep going, with high pressure, trying to win back the ball.
"As a coach you can't be more proud of your players. I have told them now that I take much more positive things than negative."
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola: "We were outstanding from the beginning. We have now played three teams from the Premier League and one from the Championship.
"We played a good performance and were there from the first minute. We have missed a lot of chances throughout the season and the game should have been over 30 minutes before. We need to improve that, but I am happy and we can play Monaco.
"When you attack good, you defend good. We want to play in this way. Claudio made a good performance and that is why we were able to have another clean sheet. I like to work with these guys. I'm so happy."
Manchester City are back in Champions League action against Monaco on Wednesday (19:45 GMT kick-off).
Both City and Middlesbrough are next in Premier League action on 19 March. Middlesbrough entertain Manchester United (12:00) before City play at home against Liverpool (16:30 GMT).
Match ends, Middlesbrough 0, Manchester City 2.
Second Half ends, Middlesbrough 0, Manchester City 2.
David Silva (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough).
Corner,  Manchester City. Conceded by Ben Gibson.
Attempt blocked. Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the six yard box is blocked. Assisted by David Silva.
Corner,  Manchester City. Conceded by Ben Gibson.
Attempt blocked. Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City) left footed shot from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Gaël Clichy.
Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough).
Substitution, Manchester City. Kelechi Iheanacho replaces Sergio Agüero.
Foul by Sergio Agüero (Manchester City).
Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt missed. Álvaro Negredo (Middlesbrough) with an attempt from the centre of the box misses to the left. Assisted by Gastón Ramírez with a cross following a set piece situation.
Foul by Fernando (Manchester City).
Gastón Ramírez (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Substitution, Manchester City. Fernando replaces Yaya Touré.
Attempt blocked. Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.
Marten de Roon (Middlesbrough) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Yaya Touré (Manchester City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Marten de Roon (Middlesbrough).
Attempt missed. Cristhian Stuani (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box is too high. Assisted by Antonio Barragán with a cross.
Attempt saved. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Pablo Zabaleta.
Attempt blocked. Fabio (Middlesbrough) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Álvaro Negredo with a headed pass.
Raheem Sterling (Manchester City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough).
Foul by Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City).
Fabio (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Attempt saved. David Silva (Manchester City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Raheem Sterling.
Corner,  Manchester City. Conceded by Ben Gibson.
Offside, Manchester City. Sergio Agüero tries a through ball, but Raheem Sterling is caught offside.
Attempt saved. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Kevin De Bruyne.
Substitution, Manchester City. Nolito replaces Leroy Sané.
Foul by Gaël Clichy (Manchester City).
Adama Traoré (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Goal!  Middlesbrough 0, Manchester City 2. Sergio Agüero (Manchester City) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Leroy Sané with a cross.
Foul by Raheem Sterling (Manchester City).
Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Middlesbrough. Gastón Ramírez replaces Grant Leadbitter.
Foul by Nicolás Otamendi (Manchester City).


A total of 306 motorists failed drink-drive breath tests and 131 others tested positive for drugs during a summer clampdown, police have said.

In 2015, 52 drivers tested positive for drugs after new laws were introduced.
More than 9,500 breath tests and 190 drug wipes were administered during the All Wales Campaign in June and July.
Dyfed-Powys Police Assistant Chief Constable Pam Kelly said a "significant" number of motorists continued to ignore the law.
"Although this was a month-long focused campaign, the drive to change attitudes, increase road safety and catch offenders will continue year round," she said.
Led by Dyfed-Powys Police, a total of 9,532 breath tests were administered by officers from Wales' four police forces with 306 of those testing positive or people refused or failed to provide a test.
In Wales, England and Northern Ireland the alcohol limit for drivers is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath or 107 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine
A total of 199 roadside tests for drugs were administered with 131 showing positive for drugs.
Police in England and Wales have been able to use "drugalyser" devices at the roadside since March 2015.
The mouth swab can test for cocaine and cannabis from a saliva sample within three minutes.
Drivers face prosecution if they exceed limits set for the presence of eight illegal drugs and eight prescription drugs which are sometimes abused.
Motorists who test positive can face a criminal record, loss of their licence for at least a year and a fine of up to Â£5,000.
The prescription drugs that fall under the new regulations are morphine, diazepam, clonazepam, flunitrazepam, lorazepam, oxazepam, temazepam and methadone.
The illegal drugs include cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, ketamine and heroin.
Road Safety Wales chairwoman Susan Storch said: "Those that selfishly break the law are endangering themselves and, more importantly, other road users."


Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has apologised after he told the House of Commons a police officer injured in a Belfast shooting on Sunday had died.

25 January 2017 Last updated at 18:35 GMT
The officer is in a stable condition in hospital after the attack by a dissident republican group known as the 'new IRA'.
During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader passed on the sympathies of "the whole House" for the "police officer who lost his life".
North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds later described Mr Corbyn's gaffe as "one of the worst displays of crass ignorance that could be imagined".
It is understood Mr Corbyn has written a letter to the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to apologise for his error.
A spokesman for the Labour leader said: "He meant to say 'nearly died'", adding that Mr Corbyn "had not intended to cause offence".


Thirteen Chinese Super League clubs have been told to clear debts or face a ban from the competition next season.

The Chinese Football Association (CFA) wrote to all but three of the country's 16 top-flight clubs, as well as five lower-league teams.
The CFA claimed the clubs had outstanding debts on player transfers, salaries or bonuses.
Many of the teams deny the claims, including Shanghai SIPG, who paid £60m for Brazil midfielder Oscar in January.
The CFA's letter follows a similar move by the Asian Football Confederation, which wrote to the CFA on 11 July stating that clubs had until 31 August to clear all outstanding payments or face exclusion from next year's Asian Champions League.
Guangzhou Evergrande, two-time winners of the Asian Champions League, were among the clubs contacted, the CFA said.
In a statement on social media, Shanghai SIPG said they had "fully paid all of the arrears last October" and had "submitted its evidence to the CFA".
Jiangsu Suning, Shandong Luneng and Beijing Guoan issued similar statements while Shanghai Shenhua, who signed Carlos Tevez for a reported £40m in December, said they were investigating and would finalise outstanding payments as soon as possible.
Chinese football authorities have sought to crack down on spending, with new regulations put in place that mean loss-making clubs are hit with a 100% tax on signing players from overseas, effectively doubling transfer fees.
The CFA has also reduced the number of overseas players permitted in matchday squads.


On 26 August, Conor McGregor will jump out of the UFC octagon and into a boxing ring to take on Floyd Mayweather in a multi-million-dollar superfight in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It is the biggest example of a combat sportsman crossing codes and looking to compete at the very highest level, but it is not the first.
Boxers and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters have faced off in the past, with mixed results. Here, BBC Sport looks back at three of the highest-profile examples.
Back at UFC 1, American light-heavyweight boxer Art Jimmerson entered the very first UFC tournament riding a 15-fight win streak in his usual sport.
A national Golden Gloves middleweight champion as an amateur, Jimmerson took the bizarre decision of entering the octagon wearing a boxing glove on his left hand, with no glove on the right.
Against Brazilian jiu jitsu star Royce Gracie, he was in over his head. He had no answer to the Gracie's grappling skills. Indeed, Jimmerson was so befuddled and worried after being taken to the mat that he tapped out before the Brazilian could apply a submission hold.
The legend goes that Jimmerson had chatted with future UFC ref John McCarthy before the fight and, after realising he was out of his depth, opted to wear just the one glove to ensure the referee would clearly see him tap out if he got into difficulty.
Jimmerson was subsequently saddled with the nickname 'One Glove', but took his loss in good humour and now works as head boxing coach at the UFC Gym in Torrance, California.
"The stand-up fighters had no idea what to do on the ground," said Gracie years later. "It was almost unfair."
When Ray Mercer and Tim Sylvia agreed to fight in 2009, it was supposed to be a boxing match between two fading veterans of the combat sports world. Mercer was a former world boxing heavyweight champion, while Sylvia had held the UFC heavyweight title.
But after the fight was vetoed by New Jersey's state athletic commission, the bout was rescheduled as an MMA contest, with a gentlemen's agreement between the pair that they would effectively box each other, with no takedowns.
Despite being held in a cage and branded a mixed martial arts contest, Mercer made clear before the bout explained that he had no intention of doing anything other than throwing his hands.
"I want him to know straight up where I'm coming from," he said. "I am a boxer, I'm not a MMA fighter."
The fight didn't last long.
Mercer waited through the opening nine seconds before unleashing a sledgehammer overhand right that sent the 6ft 8in Sylvia crashing to the canvas - and won the contest.
Former multi-weight world boxing champion James 'Lights Out' Toney is the biggest name from the sport of boxing to take on an MMA fighter, but once again it took place in a cage, rather than the squared circle.
Toney chased UFC president Dana White around the USA, insisting that his fighters couldn't punch and demanding a contest with oen of them.
White dismissed his challenge, before he finally relented and booked him to face Randy 'The Natural' Couture.
The 47-year-old former UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight champion was a former amateur wrestler who became the first man to hold UFC world titles in two weight classes.
White felt Toney had no chance of victory, saying: "Here's what I expect; the bell rings, they come to the centre of the octagon, circle each other for a little bit, Randy double legs him, puts him against the fence, squashes his head and the fight is over."
Toney responded by dismissing Couture's threat, as he said: "If he tries to take me down, it's going to be a short night for him. A very short night."
As it turned out, both men were right.
Couture secured a takedown just 15 seconds into the contest, softened up Toney on the mat, then locked up an arm-triangle choke to force the boxer to tap out a submission after three minutes and 19 seconds. The Boston crowd chanted: "UFC! UFC!"
After the fight, White told reporters: "James Toney picked this fight, and he got a fight. Toney lasted longer than I thought he would.
"It's unfair to put a guy in there with one discipline, even if he's trained for several months."
Afterwards, Couture explained dryly: "I wanted to give James Toney the total mixed martial arts experience."
Boxers have made the full-time move transition to MMA. Current UFC fighter John Phillips boxed for Wales as an amateur and was part of the Commonwealth Games team before taking up MMA in 2005.
Holly Holm won multiple world titles in boxing before switching to MMA and causing a shock by knocking out Ronda Rousey with a head kick to win the UFC bantamweight title in 2015.
But the key thing to note is the direction of travel. The boxers have moved into MMA, not the other way around. That's why the upcoming Mayweather v McGregor bout has additional intrigue, because the Irishman is going against the grain.
Never before has one of MMA's best exponents, in their prime, stepped out of their comfort zone against arguably boxing's pound-for-pound best for a contest under the Queensbury rules.
With the drawing power of both men and the sheer weight of public intrigue, August's match in Vegas promises to produce a unique sporting spectacle.


A woman has been charged in connection with a hate crime on a bus in Edinburgh.

The incident involved a 36-year-old woman and her children who were subjected to xenophobic comments.
It happened on a number 10 Lothian bus travelling on Great Junction Street in Leith at about 12:00 on 9 May.
A 41-year-old woman has been charged and reported to the procurator fiscal. She is due to appear in court at a later date.


Each day we feature a photograph sent in from across England.

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To celebrate the festive season, we are welcoming photographs inspired by the 12 Days of Christmas song.
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Congo Brazzaville have sacked coach Pierre Lechantre with 17 months left on his contract with the Red Devils.

The Congo Football Federation (Fecofoot) confirmed his sacking on Tuesday, following the team's poor recent results, the latest being a 1-0 defeat by Uganda in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on 12 November.
The Frenchman, who replaced  his compatriot Claude LeRoy in January, oversaw the Red Devils' shock failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
"After the meeting on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 11:00 am, Fecofoot and Pierre Lechantre, coach of the national team, agreed an amicable breakup of the contract that binds both parties," Fecofoot said in a statement.
The 66-year-old has coached Cameroon and Mali in the past, helping the former to a third African Cup of Nations title in 2000.
Congo are bottom of group E after two consecutive defeats in the race for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. They lost 2-1 at home to leaders Egypt in October before Saturday's defeat to Uganda in Kampala.
He took charge when Congo were top of their group for 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying, ahead of Zambia on goal difference after two matches.
But under his watch the Red Devils slipped and failed to qualify for the 2017 Nations Cup in Gabon after they finished behind Guinea-Bissau, from the tiny former Portuguese colony in West Africa.
Congo are now looking for a new manager before back-to-back World Cup fixtures against the Black Stars of Ghana in August and September 2017.


Bristol have signed Tonga captain Siale Piutau from Japanese club Yamaha Jubilo in a deal starting from January and running until the end of the season.

Centre Piutau made 12 Premiership appearances for Wasps last season, having joined them on loan in February.
The 31-year-old previously played for Chiefs and Highlanders in Super Rugby before moving to Japan in 2012.
"He will give the squad a boost in a crucial period of the campaign," interim head coach Mark Tainton said.
"I know Siale from his time at Wasps and he's a big presence in the midfield who carries hard and is a reliable defender."