Fears over the safety of Palestinian civilians are growing as Israel suggests its bombardment of Gaza will shift to southern areas, having destroyed swathes of the north.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are reportedly already displaced in southern parts since Israel’s campaign focused largely in the north, which came after similar leafleting.
Image: Palestinians waiting for bread in Khan Younis, where leaflets have been dropped telling residents to leave
Sky News has obtained an image of one of the flyers, which tells locals they “must evacuate” and “go to known shelters” – but it does not specify any shelters or suggest a safe area.
Challenged by Sky News on where the people of Khan Younis should go, Mark Regev, an adviser to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Gazans will “know exactly what to do”.
“I think the people of Gaza who will read those leaflets know exactly what to do,” he said. “And the same cynicism was expressed when we leafleted the north.
“And yet, the overwhelming majority of the population heeded our advice and did leave areas of combat and did move south, and therefore were saved from being caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas.
“And I believe you’ll see the same thing now.”
In other developments: • UN aid deliveries to Gaza were suspended on Friday due to shortages of fuel and a communications shut down; • The UN’s World Food Programme said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of supplies; • Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 12,000 people are confirmed dead, with 5,000 of them children and many others trapped under rubble; • Israel says its military has found the bodies of two hostages in Gaza in as many days
Mr Regev added there are areas to the west of Khan Younis where Israeli forces are not expecting heavy fighting, but he admitted it is “not a perfect solution”.
Israel would do its “utmost to protect the civilian population”, he said, though Mr Netanyahu admitted on Thursday the country’s attempts to minimise civilians casualties were “not successful”.
Movements towards the south have reportedly been disrupted by ongoing attacks, with bombing also reported in southern areas.
Satellite images show a mass of people, seemingly moving south, appearing to be obstructed.
Image: People waiting for evacuation. Pic: Maxar Technologies
Image: A crowd of people appears to be blocked in a road. Pic: Maxar Technologies
While southern parts of the Gaza Strip brace for a new wave of attacks in the coming days, Israel’s focus this week has largely been on al Shifa hospital, which is the territory’s largest.
Human Rights Watch warned hospitals have special protections under the laws of war and only lose that status “if it can be shown that harmful acts have been carried out from the premises”.
Israel has long maintained the hospital sits above a vast underground bunker housing a Hamas command headquarters, an assertion backed by the US.
After two days of searching the premises – which were raided earlier this week – Israeli forces said they found a vehicle with weapons, and a tunnel shaft.
Image: A view of what the Israel Defence Forces claims shows an entrance to a tunnel in al Shifa hospital complex. Pic: IDF
Hospital staff have denied Hamas has a command centre under the hospital, and so far no conclusive evidence has been offered by Israel.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed on Thursday 26 out of 35 hospitals in the territory are no longer running, while the remaining nine are only partly functioning.
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Israel has repeatedly been warned by allies to ensure the safety of civilians, while aid agencies have criticised the country’s humanitarian response.
Hamas claims more than 12,000 people have been killed since the attack on Gaza began, while Israel says 1,200 were killed when the militants attacked the south of the country on 7 October.
Israel also says Hamas took 242 captives back to Gaza as hostages – with its military announcing two bodies have been found in the past two days.
Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada have come into effect, as has an additional 10% on Chinese products, bringing the total import tax to 20%.
The US president confirmed the tariffs in a speech at the White House – and his announcement sent US and European stocks down sharply.
The tariffs will be felt heavily by US companies which have factories in Canada and Mexico, such as carmakers.
Mr Trump said: “They’re going to have a tariff. So what they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
There’s “no room left” for a deal that would see the tariffs shelved if fentanyl flowing into the US is curbed by its neighbours, he added.
Mexico and Canada face tariffs of 25%, with 10% for Canadian energy, the Trump administration confirmed.
And tariffs on Chinese imports have doubled, raising them from 10% to 20%.
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Canada announced it would retaliate immediately, imposing 25% tariffs on US imports worth C$30bn (£16.3bn). It added the tariffs would be extended in 21 days to cover more US goods entering the country if the US did not lift its sanctions against Canada.
China also vowed to retaliate and reiterated its stance that the Trump administration was trying to “shift the blame” and “bully” Beijing over fentanyl flows.
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What is America’s trade position?
Mr Trump’s speech stoked fears of a trade war in North America, prompting a financial market sell-off.
Stock market indexes the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.48% and 2.64% respectively on Monday.
The share prices for automobile companies including General Motors, which has significant truck production in Mexico, Automaker and Ford also fell.
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Consumers in the US could see price hikes within days, an expert has said.
Gustavo Flores-Macias, a public policy professor at Cornell University, New York, said “the automobile sector, in particular, is likely to see considerable negative consequences”.
This is due to supply chains that “crisscross the three countries in the manufacturing process” and ” because of the expected increase in the price of vehicles, which can dampen demand,” he added.
A truck has collided with a bus in southern Bolivia, killing at least 31 people, according to police – just two days after a deadly crash claimed at least 37 lives.
Officers said the bus rolled some 500m (1,640ft) down a ravine after the collision on Monday, which took place on the highway between Oruro, in the Bolivian Altiplano, and the highland mining city of Potosi.
The driver of the truck has been arrested, while the cause of the accident is under investigation.
Police spokesperson Limbert Choque said men and women were among the dead, and 22 people suffered injuries.
Image: Rescue teams operating at the site of the crash. Pic: Bolivia’s attorney general/Reuters
Bolivia’s President, Luis Arce, expressed condolences for the victims on social media: “This unfortunate event must be investigated to establish responsibilities,” he said in a post on Facebook.
“We send our most sincere condolences to the bereaved families, wishing them the necessary strength to face these difficult times.”
Image: The crash happened between Oruro and Potosi
On Saturday morning, a crash between two buses killed more than three dozen people in the same region.
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It happened between Colchani and the city of Uyuni, a major tourist attraction and the world’s largest salt flat.
Image: People stand near the wreckage of one of the two buses involved in a crash on Saturday. Pic: Reuters/Potosi Departmental Command
Coincidentally, one of the buses was heading to Oruro, where one of the most important carnival celebrations in Latin America is currently taking place.
More than 30 people were also killed after a bus crash on 17 February.
In that crash, police said the driver appeared to have lost control of the vehicle, causing it to drop more than 800m (2,600ft) off a precipice in the southwestern area of Yocalla.
Bolivia’s mountainous, undermaintained and poorly supervised roads are some of the deadliest in the world, claiming an average 1,400 fatalities every year.
The Pope has had two episodes of “acute respiratory failure”, the Vatican has said.
The 88-year-old has been in hospital since 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.
The Vatican said the respiratory failures were caused by “significant accumulation” of mucus in his lungs and a “bronchospasm”, akin to an asthma attack.
Doctors were then required to perform two bronchoscopies – a test which sees medics use a long, thin, telescope with a light to look into the lungs – to evaluate the Pope’s air passages, the statement said.
“In the afternoon, non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed,” the Vatican continued. “The Holy Father has always remained vigilant, oriented and collaborative. The prognosis remains reserved.”
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Behind the scenes at the Vatican
The respiratory issues the Pope suffered today are due to an ongoing infection rather than a new one but he is not out of danger, they added.
Asked if the Pope is in good spirits, they gave no answer. When asked if the Vatican’s apartment is getting ready to welcome Francis back, the source said it was too premature to discuss this.
Earlier on Monday, Pope Francis issued a written message after Vatican officials begged him to let his voice be heard following more than two weeks out of public view.
He thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, before praying for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” he wrote.
Image: People at a nightly rosary prayer for the Pope in St. Peter’s Square yesterday evening. Pic: AP
This has become the longest public absence of his 12-year papacy.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening rosary prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sunday night.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” he said.