The Egyptian foreign minister has denied reports his country is preparing for an influx of refugees as Palestinians in Rafah face an expected Israeli ground offensive.
More than a million people sheltering around the southern Gazan city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, are braced for an operation by the Israeli army, with nowhere left to flee inside the besieged territory.
Satellite images taken last Thursday showed construction in progress along the Egypt-Gaza border, prompting suggestions Egypt was gearing up to accept Palestinian civilians.
Image: Satellite images show land being cleared in an area near Egypt’s border with Gaza. Pic: Reuters/Maxar Technologies
Image: Pic: Reuters/Maxar Technologies
Footage purportedly of the site was posted by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, which in a post on X cited Egyptian officials as saying tents were being prepared and the area could serve as a camp to accommodate up to 100,000 refugees.
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But Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry has told Sky News’ Yalda Hakim there has been “no preparation whatsoever” for an influx of Palestinians and that the construction seen in the images is ordinary border maintenance.
Mr Shoukry said: “No, we are not preparing anything on our side of the border. Whatever is happening is the ordinary maintenance of our border and our border fortifications. It is in no way related to providing any camps or shelter on our side of the border.
“We are providing a great deal of humanitarian assistance and tents for the sheltering of the Palestinians who do not have any shelter, and in areas that we hope will be immune from military activity.
“[There is] no preparation whatsoever related to the influx of any civilians from Gaza into Egyptian territory.”
The foreign minister added Egypt has regularly maintained the border for “years and years” and any suggestions that there is more to the works are “an exaggeration”.
Image: Palestinians in Rafah shelter at the border with Egypt. Pic: Reuters
He said Egypt would continue to provide humanitarian trucks to Palestinians on the other side of the border.
Asked if the idea of an influx of Palestinian refugees was a “red line” for him, Mr Shoukry said: “Absolutely. I’m prepared to hit this at the highest level. This is not an acceptable circumstance.
“We will not accept the liquidation of the Palestinian cause by removing Palestinians from their territory, from their lands, and creating new conditions of displacement.”
The UK’s foreign secretary Lord Cameron has said the UK is “very concerned” about the situation in Rafah and called for Israel to “stop and think seriously” before taking further action, while US President Joe Biden said a “credible plan” was needed to protect civilians before the offensive.
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0:59
Israel must have a ‘credible plan’ before Rafah operation
Israeli officials have said the military is working on a detailed plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of it, but have yet to share any details.
In an interview aired on US network ABC last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israeli forces would carry out an assault on Rafah but insisted they were preparing “a detailed plan” for where civilians there could go.
“We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah,” he said, adding: “We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population.”
Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, said on Friday that his country will “coordinate with Egypt” on Palestinian refugees.
The military’s imminent Rafah offensive follows operations in northern Gaza, Gaza City, central Gaza, and Khan Younis.
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3:01
Israel says its special forces have raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza
Israeli forces raided the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday, and said they arrested 100 suspects on the premises, killed gunmen near the hospital and found weapons inside it.
The Gaza health ministry said about 10,000 people were seeking shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate.
They also said at least 83 people have been killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, including one person in Rafah on Saturday.
Donald Trump has described crucial trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as “amazing” – and says he will visit Beijing in April.
The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies met in South Korea as they tried to defuse growing tensions – with both countries imposing aggressive tariffs on exports since the president’s second term began.
Aboard Air Force One, Mr Trump confirmed tariffs on Chinese goods exported to the US will be reduced, which could prove much-needed relief to consumers.
It was also agreed that Beijing will work “hard” to stop fentanyl flowing into the US.
Semiconductor chips were another issue raised during their 100-minute meeting, but the president admitted certain issues weren’t discussed.
“On a scale of one to 10, the meeting with Xi was 12,” he told reporters en route back to the US.
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‘Their handshake was almost a bit awkward’
Xi a ‘tough negotiator’, says Trump
The talks conclude a whirlwind visit across Asia – with Mr Trump saying he was “too busy” to see Kim Jong Un.
However, the president said he would be willing to fly back to see the North Korean leader, with a view to discussing denuclearisation.
Mr Trump had predicted negotiations with his Chinese counterpart would last for three or four hours – but their meeting ended in less than two.
The pair shook hands before the summit, with the US president quipping: “He’s a tough negotiator – and that’s not good!”
It marks the first face-to-face meeting between both men since 2019 – back in Mr Trump’s first term.
Image: Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Pic: AP
There were signs that Beijing had extended an olive branch to Washington ahead of the talks, with confirmation China will start buying US soybeans again.
American farmers have been feeling the pinch since China stopped making purchases earlier this year – not least because the country was their biggest overseas market.
Chinese stocks reached a 10-year high early on Thursday as investors digested their meeting, with the yuan rallying to a one-year high against the US dollar.
Analysis: A fascinating power play
Sky News Asia correspondent Helen-Ann Smith – who is in Busan where the talks took place – said it was fascinating to see the power play between both world leaders.
She said: “Trump moved quickly to dominate the space – leaning in, doing all the talking, even responding very briefly to a few thrown questions.
“That didn’t draw so much as an eyebrow raise from his counterpart, who was totally inscrutable. Xi does not like or respond well to unscripted moments, Trump lives for them.”
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2:43
Will Trump really run for a third term?
On Truth Social, Mr Trump had described the summit as a gathering of the “G2” – a nod to America and China’s status as the world’s two biggest economies.
While en route to see President Xi, he also revealed that the US “Department of War” has now been ordered to start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Al Fashir by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a two-day window after the paramilitary group captured the regional capital, analysts believe.
Sky News is not able to independently verify the claim by Yale Humanitarian Labs, as the city remains under a telecommunications blackout.
Stains and shapes resembling blood and corpses can be seen from space in satellite images analysed by the research lab.
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Image: Al Fashir University. Pic: Airbus DS/2025
Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of Yale Humanitarian Labs, said: “In the past 48 hours since we’ve had [satellite] imagery over Al Fashir, we see a proliferation of objects that weren’t there before RSF took control of Al Fashir – they are approximately 1.3m to 2m long which is critical because in satellite imagery at very high resolution, that’s the average length of a human body lying vertical.”
Mini Minawi, the governor of North Darfur, said on X that 460 civilians have been killed in the last functioning hospital in the city.
The Sudan Doctors Network has also shared that the RSF “cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside Al Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards”.
World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports.
Satellite images support the claims of a massacre at Al Saudi Hospital, according to Mr Raymond, who said YHL’s report detailed “a large pile of them [objects believed to be bodies] against a wall at one building at Saudi hospital. And we believe that’s consistent with reports that patients and staff were executed en masse”.
In a video message released on Wednesday, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “violations in Al Fashir” and claimed “an investigation committee should start to hold any soldier or officer accountable”.
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3:00
Army soldiers ‘fled key Sudan city’ before capture
Image: The Saudi Maternity Hospital in Al Fashir. Pic: Airbus DS /2025 via AP
The commander is known for committing atrocities in Darfur in the early 2000s as a Janjaweed militia leader, and the RSF has been accused of carrying out genocide in Darfur 20 years on.
Sources have told Sky News the RSF is holding doctors, journalists and politicians captive, demanding ransoms from some families to release their loved ones.
One video shows a man from Al Fashir with an armed man kneeling on the ground, telling his family to pay 15,000. The currency was not made clear.
In some cases, ransoms have been paid, but then more messages come demanding that more money be transferred to secure release.
Muammer Ibrahim, a journalist based in the city, is currently being held by the RSF, who initially shared videos of him crouched on the ground, surrounded by fighters, announcing his hometown had been captured under duress.
He is being held incommunicado as his family scrambles to negotiate his release. Muammer courageously covered the siege of Al Fashir for months, enduring starvation and shelling.
The Committee to Protect Journalists regional director Sara Qudah said the abduction of Muammar Ibrahim “is a grave and alarming reminder that journalists in Al Fashir are being targeted simply for telling the truth”.
Sharing aerial footage of battered homes, he wrote: “The damage is great, but we are going to devote all our energy to mount a strong recovery.”
The storm made landfall in Cuba in the early hours of Wednesday morning before leaving mid-afternoon, heading towards the Bahamas.
Image: Hurricane Melissa has ravaged through the Caribbean. Pic: Reuters
‘Whole communities are underwater’
Alexander Pendry, British Red Cross global response manager, said: “News is already coming through that whole communities are underwater and that the damage left by the strong winds has been devastating.
“The Jamaica Red Cross has been proactively supporting communities by preparing essential supplies and managing shelters. Their priority now is to reach people with aid as soon as possible.
“Across the Caribbean, Red Cross teams have been mobilising as Melissa continues its trajectory across Cuba, Dominican Republic and Haiti.”
He added: “Tragically, experience tells us that the impact on communities and individuals will be shattering and long lasting.