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Thousands of Palestinians are streaming onto Gaza’s only highway as they try to flee the combat zone in the north, after Israel announced a window for safe passage.

It comes as Israeli forces struck near several hospitals in Gaza City as the military pushes further into dense urban neighbourhoods in its fight against Hamas.

Parents carried children in their arms while others brought what possessions they could in animal-drawn carts in a line stretching as far as the eye could see.

Follow live: IDF ‘kills 30 Hamas fighters’

The accelerating exodus to the south came as Israel agreed to start implementing a four-hour humanitarian pause each day and to open a second route for people to flee the north, the White House said.

Those fleeing to the south face the prospect of ongoing airstrikes there, and dire humanitarian conditions.

Pic: AP
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The line stretched as far as the eye could see. Pic: AP

‘Darkest hour’

More and more people have been living in and around Shifa Hospital – the largest hospital in Gaza – in the hope that it will be safer than their homes or United Nations shelters in the north, several of which have been hit repeatedly.

Early on Friday, Israel struck the hospital’s courtyard and obstetrics department, according to the head of the Hamas-run media office in Gaza, Salama Maarouf.

British-Palestinian surgeon Professor Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who left London for Gaza last month, told Sky News’s Cordelia Lynch that the medical system was destroyed.

“This is by far the darkest hour. It’s gone. There’s no medical system. Shifa is gone,” he said.

“That was one third of the system. All of the children’s hospitals have been attacked and put out of service,” he said, adding that the cancer hospital, the psychiatric hospital and the ophthalmic hospital were out of service.

The health ministry in Gaza later said one person had been killed at Shifa Hospital and several others wounded.

Israel has accused Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals and using the Shifa Hospital complex as its main command centre, which the militant group and hospital staff deny, saying Israel is creating a pretext to strike it.

Professor Abu-Sittah said: “There’s no one here other than the wounded, their families and some kids trying to get water as we have a water pipe.

“They’re absolutely terrified that they’re targeting the hospital. None of the children, the injured, the displaced has seen anything like this.”

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Hamas fighter: ‘This is our land’

More than 10,800 Palestinians have been killed since the latest hostilities began on 7 October, according to the Gaza health ministry.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mainly in the initial Hamas attack, and more than 30 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza since the ground offensive began.

Israel’s military said it killed 19 Hamas militants overnight – including a company commander and a platoon commander who were involved in the 7 October attack – and also destroyed a shipping container that held some 20 rocket launchers.

Read more:
‘I don’t want to go from one war to another’: Ukrainians await Gaza evacuation
Analysis: Lebanon on verge of war

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Biden: ‘No possibility’ of ceasefire in Gaza

Meanwhile, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said on Friday that more than 100 UN workers had been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“UNRWA is mourning, Palestinians mourning, Israelis mourning,” Philippe Lazzarini said, reiterating a call for a humanitarian ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking on a visit to India, said that “far too many” Palestinians have died and suffered as Israel wages war on Hamas.

He urged Israel to minimise harm to civilians and maximise humanitarian assistance that reaches them.

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs - in worst day for indexes since COVID

Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.

While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.

As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years

All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.

The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.

Read more: What’s a bear market?

Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.

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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.

The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.

And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.

Pic: Reuters
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US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters

Trump holds trade deal talks – reports

It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.

The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.

Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.

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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?

Read more:
Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow

China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.

Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.

Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.

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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’

“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

More on Donald Trump

He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

Read more:
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
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Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

Read more from Sky News:
Highs and lows of Five-Year Keir
MP tells Sky News she was targeted online by Tate brothers

More on South Korea

The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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