Israel-Hamas war: No help to be seen at ‘safe zone’ for Palestinians in Gaza
Iron dome interceptor missiles explode in the skies above us, halting the passage of Hamas rockets heading for southern Israel.
Moments later the rocket attack is followed by the deafening booms of an Israeli artillery battery just a few metres from where we had pulled over next to a bomb shelter.
We are deep in the south of the country. We haven’t been able to get this close to the Gaza border since the war began. We’re just 400 metres or so away.
The south of Gaza, clearly visible, is meant to be a safe zone for the people on the other side of the border fence. It doesn’t feel safe at all.
Follow live: Israel-Gaza latest
The roads to Israel’s south are eerily quiet, military vehicles pass us at high speed, among them lorries carrying cargos of neatly packed shells.
As we drive, we pass row after row of tanks and artillery pieces. In the north, Israel continues to hammer Hamas positions, engage its fighters, and track down their tunnels.
Tanks in southern Israel
The northern mission is far from finished. The southern mission has barely started but the air raids and artillery attacks are causing large numbers of casualties in Gaza.
Our teams on the ground in Gaza film, day in and day out, as the injured keep coming from across this huge battlefield.
Casualties arrive at Shuhada Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza
The air strikes might be targeted – but the shrapnel and the shards of glass and pieces of flying masonry are not. Every hospital and clinic is overwhelmed now and short of absolutely everything; all they can do is patch people up.
The seriously injured often can’t be saved in this environment.
Inside Shuhada Al Aqsa Hospital
And so, the dead wrapped in white are placed together on the street, while the living pray for them. There are many constants in Gaza now – and mourning is just one of them.
Those who can are following Israeli military orders to move further south.
They leave with their families and whatever they can carry, many of them on foot. But few believe anywhere is safe.
Sky’s Stuart Ramsay
The Israel Defence Forces have been telling people to go further south, and to the southwest. And Israel’s ambassador to the UK told Sky News there is a safe zone for Palestinians, which she identified as a place called “Mawasi“.
“Israel made sure there is a place for the people of Gaza to have their shelters,” ambassador Tzipi Hotovely said.
“There is a place in Gaza called the Mawasi. The Mawasi is the place where they can all have shelters. Together with the aid organisations we have created shelters for the Palestinian people, so you cannot say Israel is not facilitating that, together with humanitarian aid,” she added.
Three days ago, we asked the Sky News team in Gaza to go to Al Mawasi to see if any preparations had been made for the evacuees.
A family in Al Mawasi
They sent back the pictures showing a desolate wasteland of sand dunes next to the Mediterranean Sea. Al Mawasi is an old Bedouin settlement and has little infrastructure, if any.
There is no aid, there are no agency tents, there are no food kitchens. Simply put, there is no help.
The team filmed as families set up tents, and young boys tried to light a fire in the sand next to their home – which is now a plastic-covered shack built by their father Mahmood Afghani.
Boys try to start a fire in Al Mawasi
The Afghani family has six children.
“You see this small tent? See how we made it. I did this to protect my children from the winter and we haven’t even entered the winter season yet,” Mr Afghani said, pointing at the family’s shack.
“Imagine when we reach the middle of winter – what are we going to do? I want the whole world to hear what I am saying. I want the whole world to feel our pain so they can press Israel to stop this war.”
Mahmood Afghani
When he was asked if he has received any aid, he reiterated what many have said, there isn’t any.
“No, not at all, nothing. I have to be honest; I have only received one bag of flour since October,” he answered.
We have since spoken to people who are there, and they have told us – as of Sunday 3 December – nothing has changed.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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