Israel urges Palestinian civilians in southern Gaza to ‘evacuate’ – but doesn’t suggest safe area
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.
Leaflets have been dropped by the Israeli military in some areas of the south, near Khan Younis, warning residents to leave as Israel declared the “next stage” of their offensive has begun.
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.
Israel-Gaza latest: Satellite images show huge crowds trying to flee to southern Gaza
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.
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People waiting for evacuation. Pic: Maxar Technologies
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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.
Read more:
Israel now occupies Gaza having completely destroyed it – so what does it do now?
Inside Gaza’s ‘humanitarian corridors’: Sky News witnesses hundreds moving south
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.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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