Connect with us

Published

on

The first British nationals have left Gaza and crossed the Rafah border into Egypt, the Foreign Office has said.

UK teams are on the ground providing assistance, but the Foreign Office did not specify how many Britons had crossed the border.

A total of 76 wounded people and their companions left Gaza in ambulances today, according to a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority.

Around six buses carrying 335 foreign nationals also departed into Egypt, the spokesman added.

The Rafah border will be open again on Thursday to allow foreign passport holders out of Gaza, the authority confirmed.

Follow live: Israel-Gaza latest updates

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the crossings of the first British nationals was a “hugely important first step”.

He said the UK is working with Egyptian and Israeli authorities to ensure the crossing stays open, so all Britons can get out to safety in the coming days.

01 November 2023, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: People wait at the border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in Rafah. Injured Palestinians, Palestinians with second passports and foreign nationals can be evacuated through the Rafah border crossing. Photo by: Abed Rahim Khatib/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Image:
Pic: AP

But there are still foreign nationals struggling to leave.

A UK-based academic and her five children were unable to leave Gaza for Egypt as the first group of injured evacuees moved over the Rafah border.

Dr Emilee Rauschenberger, 42, told Sky News that her family came to the border as they got notice from the UK’s Foreign Office that the crossing might be opening.

She said the family wanted to travel back to Manchester, having travelled to Gaza to visit her husband’s family three weeks ago.

“We want to leave Gaza and go back to Britain,” she said. “A few days after the war started we had to leave our homes and move to Khan Younis. We have been displaced the whole time.”

In other developments:
• The UK’s foreign secretary says teams are ready to assist British nationals in Gaza as soon as they are able to leave;
• The Israel Defence Forces says 16 of its troops have been killed in Gaza since Tuesday;
• Hamas claims seven hostages have been killed during a strike on a refugee camp in Gaza;
• Around 51 trucks carrying aid have arrived in Gaza.

‘Lots of bombing’ and daily struggles for food

Dr Rauschenberger has worked for the education organisation, the Queen Rania Foundation, in Jordan for two years.

She said her family, including her five children – aged 14, 12, 10-year-old twins and a four-year-old – have had no electricity and no sanitary drinking water while in Gaza.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Dr Emilee Rauschenberger on trying to leave Gaza

No humanitarian aid was delivered to the area they were in, and they had to go out daily to find food, she said.

“At night there is lots of bombing, especially in the last week. It’s very difficult. I am just waiting with my five kids and my husband to go,” she said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Foreign Office said in a text to Britons in Gaza: “Once we receive confirmation that you are permitted to cross the Rafah border, we will send a message to ask you to travel to the crossing.

“Crossings are expected to take place across a number of days.”

It said it has given a full list of names of British nationals and dependants in Gaza to Israeli and Egyptian authorities.

‘I just want to come home’

Another who didn’t cross the border today was 29-year-old Briton Zaynab Wandawi, who is in Gaza with 10 members of her family.

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Wandawi’s mother, Lalah Ali Faten, said the family travelled in hope to the border today but didn’t find their names on the list of those permitted to cross into Egypt.

Zaynab Wandawi (right) and her mother Lalah Ali Faten
Image:
Zaynab Wandawi (right) and her mother Lalah Ali Faten

“They are working on a list of names, and we are very hopeful that their names will be on tomorrow’s list,” Ms Faten said.

Giving an update on her daughter’s condition from Manchester, Ms Faten said the family ran out of drinking water yesterday and have been bathing in seawater.

“The last message I got from her was her saying ‘Mum, I just want to come home’,” Ms Faten said.

‘Be ready to go’

Meanwhile, Dr Abdel Hammad, a surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said he was told “be ready to go” by the Foreign Office as he waited to cross the border into Egypt.

He arrived in Gaza on 6 October, a day before the attack on Israel by Hamas.

Dr Hammad told Sky News that he was about 5km from the Rafah crossing, and was waiting to be allowed through.

Dr Abdel Hammad
Image:
Dr Abdel Hammad

President Joe Biden said American citizens were expected to be among the first group of foreigners able to leave Gaza for Egypt via the Rafah crossing today.

“We expect American citizens to exit today, and we expect to see more depart over the coming days,” he wrote on social media platform, X.

A deal, mediated by Qatar, was struck between Egypt, Israel, and Hamas, to open the crossing to foreign and dual nationals currently trapped in Gaza.

Read more:
What is the Rafah border crossing and who controls it?
How far has Israel got into Gaza?

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Crowds enter Rafah crossing from Gaza

Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border crossing with the Gaza Strip Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. in Rafah Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Image:
Palestinians cross to the Egyptian side of the border. Pic: AP

Footage broadcast on Egyptian state TV – and seen by Sky News – showed injured people being transported in ambulances across the border from the Gaza Strip.

Egypt’s health ministry said a field hospital has been set up in an Egyptian town near the crossing.

Egyptian ambulances convoy which will carry critically injured people waits to go through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, Egypt November 1, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer
Image:
Earlier, a convoy of Egyptian ambulances were seen waiting to go through the Rafah crossing from the Egyptian side

The Italian foreign minister also confirmed four Italian citizens, one of whom was accompanied by his Palestinian wife, were also among those who have already left Gaza.

Rafah is Gaza’s only gateway to the rest of the world not directly controlled by Israel.

It is under the control of Egypt as part of an agreement with Israel and the European Union.

However, it has never been a normal, fully open border crossing and is tightly controlled by authorities in Cairo.

Continue Reading

World

Donald Trump announces sweeping global trade tariffs – including 10% on UK imports

Published

on

By

Donald Trump announces sweeping global trade tariffs - including 10% on UK imports

Donald Trump has announced a 10% trade tariff on all imports from the UK – as he unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.

Speaking at a White House event entitled “Make America Wealthy Again”, the president held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.

“This is Liberation Day,” he told a cheering audience of supporters, while hitting out at foreign “cheaters”.

Follow live: Trump tariffs latest

He claimed “trillions” of dollars from the “reciprocal” levies he was imposing on others’ trade barriers would provide relief for the US taxpayer and restore US jobs and factories.

Mr Trump said the US has been “looted, pillaged, raped, plundered” by other nations.

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Image:
Pic: AP

His first tariff announcement was a 25% duty on all car imports from midnight – 5am on Thursday, UK time.

Mr Trump confirmed the European Union would face a 20% reciprocal tariff on all other imports. China’s rate was set at 34%.

The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bows over the country’s 20% VAT rate, though the president’s board suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations.

It was also confirmed that further US tariffs were planned on some individual sectors including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and critical mineral imports.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Trump’s tariffs explained

The ramping up of duties promises to be painful for the global economy. Tariffs on steel and aluminium are already in effect.

The UK government signalled there would be no immediate retaliation.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers. That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.

“The US is our closest ally, so our approach is to remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today.

“We have a range of tools at our disposal and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.

“Nobody wants a trade war and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Who showed up for Trump’s tariff address?

The EU has pledged to retaliate, which is a problem for Northern Ireland.

Should that scenario play out, the region faces the prospect of rising prices because all its imports are tied to EU rules under post-Brexit trading arrangements.

It means US goods shipped to Northern Ireland would be subject to the EU’s reprisals.

The impact of a trade war would be expected to be widely negative, with tit-for-tat tariffs risking job losses, a ramping up of prices and cooling of global trade.

Research for the Institute for Public Policy Research has suggested more than 25,000 direct jobs in the UK car manufacturing industry alone could be at risk from the tariffs on car exports to the US.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) had said the tariff costs could not be absorbed by manufacturers and may lead to a review of output.

The tariffs now on UK exports pose a big risk to growth and the so-called headroom Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced to restore to the public finances at the spring statement, risking further spending cuts or tax rises ahead to meet her fiscal rules.

Read more:
What do Trump’s tariffs mean for the UK?
The rewards and risks for US as trade war intensifies

A member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), David Miles, told MPs on Tuesday that US tariffs at 20% or 25% maintained on the UK for five years would “knock out all the headroom the government currently has”.

But he added that a “very limited tariff war” that the UK stays out of could be “mildly positive”.

He said: “There’s a bit of trade that will get diverted to the UK, and some of the exports from China, for example, that would have gone to the US, they’ll be looking for a home for them in the rest of the world.

“And stuff would be available in the UK a bit cheaper than otherwise would have been. So there is one, not central scenario at all, which is very, very mildly potentially positive to the UK. All the other ones which involve the UK facing tariffs are negative, and they’re negative to very different extents.”

Continue Reading

World

Israel announces military operation expanding in Gaza to seize ‘large areas’

Published

on

By

Israel announces military operation expanding in Gaza to seize 'large areas'

Israel is beginning a major expansion of its military operation in Gaza and will seize large areas of the territory, the country’s defence minister said.

Israel Katz said in a statement that there would be a large scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from fighting areas.

In a post on X, he wrote: “I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to remove Hamas and return all the hostages. This is the only way to end the war.”

He said the offensive was “expanding to crush and clean the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and capture large areas that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel”.

The expansion of Israel’s military operation in Gaza deepens its renewed offensive.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that had begun in January ended in March as Israel launched various air strikes on targets across Gaza.

The deal had seen the release of dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, but collapsed before it could move to phase two, which would have involved the release of all hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

26 March: Anti-Hamas chants heard at protest in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had already issued evacuation warnings to Gazans living around the southern city of Rafah and towards the city of Khan Yunis, telling them to move to the al Mawasi area on the shore, which was previously designated a humanitarian zone.

Israeli forces have already set up a significant buffer zone within Gaza, having expanded an area around the edge of the territory that had existed before the war, as well as a large security area in the so-called Netzarim corridor through the middle of Gaza.

This latest conflict began when Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.

The ensuing Israeli offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Read more:
Father demands protection after Gaza aid workers’ deaths
Anti-Hamas chants heard at rare protest in Gaza

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Bodies of aid workers found in Gaza

Aid group Doctors Without Borders warned on Wednesday that Israel’s month-long siege of Gaza means some critical medications are now short in supply and are running out, leaving Palestinians at risk of losing vital healthcare.

“The Israeli authorities’ have condemned the people of Gaza to unbearable suffering with their deadly siege,” said Myriam Laaroussi, the group’s emergency coordinator in Gaza.

“This deliberate infliction of harm on people is like a slow death; it must end immediately.”

Continue Reading

World

‘Liberation day is here’: But what will it mean for global trade?

Published

on

By

'Liberation day is here': But what will it mean for global trade?

“Liberation day” was due to be on 1 April. But Donald Trump decided to shift it by a day because he didn’t want anyone to think it was an April fool.

It is no joke for him and it is no joke for governments globally as they brace for his tariff announcements.

It is stunning how little we know about the plans to be announced in the Rose Garden of the White House later today.

It was telling that we didn’t see the President at all on Tuesday. He and all his advisers were huddled in the West Wing, away from the cameras, finalising the tariff plans.

Follow the events of Liberation Day live as they unfold

Three key figures are central to it all.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the so-called ‘measured voice’. A former hedge fund manager, he has argued for targeted not blanket tariffs.

Peter Navarro is Trump’s senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing. A long-time aide and confidante of the president, he is a true loyalist and a firm believer in the merits of tariffs.

More on Donald Trump

His economic views are well beyond mainstream economic thought – precisely why he appeals to Trump.

‘Stop that crap’: Trump adviser Peter Navarro reacts to Sky News correspondent’s question over tariffs

The third key character is Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary and the biggest proponent of the full-throttle liberation day tariff juggernaut.

The businessman, philanthropist, Trump fundraiser and billionaire (net worth ranging between $1bn and $2bn) has been among the closest to Trump over the past 73 days of this presidency – frequently in and out of the West Wing.

If anything goes wrong, observers here in Washington suspect Trump will make Lutnick the fall guy.

What are Donald Trump’s tariffs, what is ‘liberation day’ and how does it all affect the UK?

And what if it does all go wrong? What if Trump is actually the April fool?

“It’s going to work…” his press secretary said when asked if it could all be a disaster, driving up the cost of living for Americans and creating global economic chaos.

“The president has a brilliant team who have been studying these issues for decades and we are focussed on restoring the global age of America…” Karoline Leavitt said.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘Days of US being ripped off are over’

Dancing to the president’s tune

My sense is that we should see “liberation day” not as the moment it’s all over in terms of negotiations for countries globally as they try to carve out deals with the White House. Rather it should be seen as the start.

Trump, as always, wants to be seen as the one calling the shots, taking control, seizing the limelight. He wants the world to dance to his tune. Today is his moment.

But beyond today, alongside the inevitable tit-for-tat retaliation, expect to see efforts by nations to seek carve-outs and to throw bones to Trump; to identify areas where trade policies can be tweaked to placate the president.

Even small offerings which change little in a material sense could give Trump the chance to spin and present himself as the winning deal maker he craves to be.

One significant challenge for foreign governments and their diplomats in Washington has been engaging the president himself with proposals he might like.

Negotiations take place with a White House team who are themselves unsure where the president will ultimately land. It’s resulted in unsatisfactory speculative negotiations.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Treasury minister: ‘We’ll do everything to secure a deal’

Too much faith placed in the ‘special relationship’?

The UK believes it’s in a better position than most other countries globally. It sits outside the EU giving it autonomy in its trade policy, its deficit with the US is small, and Trump loves Britain.

It’s true too that the UK government has managed to accelerate trade conversations with the White House on a tariff-free trade partnership. Trump’s threats have forced conversations that would normally sit in the long grass for months.

Yet, for now, the conversations have yielded nothing firm. That’s a worry for sure. Did Keir Starmer have too much faith in the ‘special relationship’?

Downing Street will have identified areas where they can tweak trade policy to placate Trump. Cars maybe? Currently US cars into the UK carry a 10% tariff. Digital services perhaps?

US food? Unlikely – there are non-tariff barriers on US food because the consensus seems to be that chlorinated chicken and the like isn’t something UK consumers want.

Easier access to UK financial services maybe? More visas for Americans?

For now though, everyone is waiting to see what Trump does before they either retaliate or relent and lower their own market barriers.

Continue Reading

Trending