Teenager describes forced separation from family as Israel evacuates 90% of North Gaza
“We sat in the yard from 8am to 5pm under the sun with no water or food.”
Sixteen-year-old Mohammed* was separated from his mother by Israeli forces as his family tried to flee northern Gaza.
Mohammed’s mother was taken to a “sandy pit” with other women and children and sat in the heat for hours before the group were released and told to move south. She took this video as she waited.
Mohammed and his mother are among tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been forced to flee northern Gaza in the past few weeks, as Israel’s military assault against Hamas has intensified.
Using geolocated videos, an interview with a teenage boy held in a school by Israeli forces and evacuation orders issued by the military, Sky News has investigated the conditions that some civilians have faced while leaving.
Our analysis of the evacuation orders reveals that over the course of five days in mid-October, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of 90% of the North Gaza governorate – an area half the size of Manchester. The UN says within two weeks in October alone, 60,000 people were displaced from North Gaza.
It comes as experts told Sky News Israel has a responsibility as the occupying power to look after civilians, “especially those civilians it may move for military reasons”.
In response to our report, the IDF said it makes “every effort to prevent harm to uninvolved civilians” and takes “additional measures” alongside evacuation maps to move civilians to safer areas.
It said: “Extensive efforts are being made to identify each individual examined and to detain only those who are terror operatives or suspected of being involved in terrorist activities”. It added that those who are not involved are released “as soon as possible” and IDF protocols are to “treat detainees with dignity”.
Videos show mass evacuations
Northern Gaza has become the focus of Israel’s military efforts in the strip. It says it aims to destroy Hamas who they say are regrouping in the north.
Sky News geolocated 17 videos and images taken by civilians, soldiers and shared by the IDF showing mass evacuations and detentions in northern Gaza posted online in the past three weeks.
Videos showing mass evacuations and detentions posted online between 19 October and 25 October were geolocated by Sky News
The footage below shows hundreds of civilians fleeing on foot. Taken from an Israeli armoured vehicle, women and children are seeing carrying their belongings. It offers a glimpse into the scale of the evacuations taking place in the north.
We mapped the locations of these videos to an area just north of the Indonesian Hospital. The IDF has also published multiple videos online in the past two weeks showing its efforts to help civilians leave.
But other footage, geolocated to a similar area, captures a different part of the IDFs operation.
One video, posted online on 23 October, shows at least 23 Palestinian men barefoot, blindfolded, dressed in white suits and led away by Israeli soldiers.
The IDF had said in the days previously, that its forces had been operating against “terrorists” in the area. But the exact circumstances of this video are unclear.
Defence and security analyst Professor Michael Clarke says that while it’s not “unreasonable” to separate people for interrogation in a counter-terrorist operation, there are conditions.
He said: “They have to be interrogated properly. They can’t be held indefinitely. They have to have some form of representation and evidence has to be produced. Simply taking all the men away and locking them up is strictly against the laws of war and the Geneva Convention.”
In response, the IDF said recently its forces have been operating in Jabalia in northern Gaza against “terrorist infrastructure” and Hamas militants and has detained and questioned “individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activities”.
It added that “relevant suspects are transferred for continued detention and investigation in Israel” and those who are not involved are released, adding that individuals detained are treated “in accordance with international law”.
Teenager separated from family
Mohammed is among Palestinians who have been separated from their family during evacuation. With his parents, the family started their journey out of northern Gaza on 22 October after an Israeli evacuation order for Beit Lahia was issued that morning.
Mohammed said they walked from a house they were staying at near the Kamal Adwan Hospital and headed towards the Indonesian Hospital. His mother said casualties were “flooding” in and out of the hospital and described it as “the most terrifying scene ever”.
Map shows the locations of Mohammed and his family on 22 October
Mohammed said: “The soldiers were laughing at us and hurling insults as we walked among them… When we arrived at the Indonesian hospital, the solders separated the men from the women and put them in a school and made the women continue walking along Salah al Din Road.
“I’m 16 years old, I’m still young. I continued walking with my mother, but the soldier ordered me in Arabic to go to the school.
“My mother told me, ‘don’t answer him and keep walking with me. I can’t leave you alone’. My father went, but I was still walking with my mother. But then the soldier raised his weapon at me and said to me, ‘I told you to go the school’.”
Mohammed and his father were taken to the al Kuwait School next to the hospital where they were ordered to sit outside for nine hours. His mother, separated from her son, was told to continue walking towards the Salah al Din Road.
He said: “The army was summoning 10 people then 10 more for examination for security… they put them in white uniforms blindfolded and walked barefoot the soldiers beat them if they fell.”
With a group of women and children, Mohammed’s mother was taken to a sandy area just off the Salah al Din Road where they sat in the sun for hours before eventually being released and walking to Gaza City. Three of the videos we geolocated were taken by Mohammed’s mother, 800m south of the Indonesian Hospital.
She told Sky News: “I filmed everything. I don’t know why I did it, I just wanted to show my son and husband what we were experiencing when I was reunited with them.”
Mohammed and his father were released separately that evening. He says he walked for five hours with no clothes to get to Gaza City, where he found his parents. They are unsure when or if they will be able to return safely to the north.
In response, the IDF said it addresses and examines events that deviated from IDF values through “command and disciplinary measures”. It said requested details necessary to examine the claim “were not provided” and therefore are unable to further review them.
Journey to Mawasi over 16km
The Israeli military has urged civilians to go to al Mawasi – a strip of land on the coast in southern Gaza which it deems a “humanitarian zone”. The United Nations humanitarian agency has said Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is increasingly concentrated in al Mawasi.
The military has frequently posted evacuation maps online – telling civilians which zones to leave and where they should go.
These maps are not the only form of evacuation notices issued by the IDF, who also use other methods like leaflets. But the Israeli military says they are created to minimise civilian casualties and Gazans are often told to refer to them.
Since the start of October, our analysis found the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson has posted three evacuation maps for northern Gaza – on 7, 8 and 12 October.
Two of the maps, posted on 7 and 8 October, show the same area, covering the majority of North Gaza governorate. The third map, posted on 12 October, covers the neighbourhood of Jabalia. Sky News compared these maps with UN maps of Gaza’s official administrative boundaries.
It is possible that the IDF has issued more evacuation orders in the period we analysed using maps and other methods which were not posted online. Our analysis is based on the information they have posted on their social media accounts.
Three evacuation order maps posted by IDF between 1-29 October online and UN maps of Gaza’s official administrative boundaries
Our analysis found that the areas evacuated between 7 and 12 October encompass 90% of the North Gaza governorate. The UN told Sky News that an estimated 90,000 people remain in the region.
Of the three maps we found, only one of them details the time period in which civilians were safe to travel on the given route. The other two do not provide a length of the evacuation order or an expiry date.
In response, the IDF said since the start of the war over two million evacuation notifications have been distributed, more than 12 million flyers have been dropped, over 100,000 phone calls made and over 800,000 voice messages sent for evacuations.
Evacuation orders issued by the IDF between 1 October and 29 October Credit: IDF
Measuring the distance between our geolocated videos of the evacuations and the Mawasi zone, we found civilians would have to walk at least 16km to get there.
We also found that the three hospitals that have recently been operational in northern Gaza – Kamal Adwan Hospital, Indonesian Hospital and al Awda Hospital, were included on two of the three evacuation maps we found.
The IDF expanded the area of the al Mawasi zone in October but has been criticised for its lack of support for civilians who have moved there.
Professor Clarke said: “If the Israelis are moving these people out, that can be permissible if they can provide evidence that they are providing for these people at the other end of their journey.
“Now, so far in the evacuations that we’ve seen in the last 12 months in Gaza, that has not been the case. The best the Israelis have managed is to allow the UN and relief organisations to do something. But the fact is it’s their responsibility, not the UN responsibility. It’s their responsibility as the occupying power to look after civilians, particularly civilians it may move for military reasons.”
The IDF said as part of its efforts in the humanitarian zone of al Mawasi, “proactive calls” were made for civilians to evacuate “to an area into which humanitarian aid was transported, including food, water, medical supplies, and shelter equipment, which included the provision of 40,000 tents purchased by the State of Israel”.
It added that due to recent operations in the Jabalia area, “prior notifications indicated the need for evacuation… which also includes several hospitals”. It said officials from the Palestinian healthcare system and international community requested IDF assistance in safely evacuating the hospitals in the area.
The military said “no specific time frame was set for the evacuation of the hospitals, and evacuations have been ongoing”.
There have also been significant changes to infrastructure in northern Gaza. Satellite imagery taken 10 days apart shows the disappearance of two large displacement camps and tents set up in schools.
Over 50 tents in a civilian displacement camp less than 500m north of the Indonesian Hospital is visible in imagery taken on 14 October but is not visible in an image taken on 24 October.
Another camp with over 100 tents less than 2km south is also not visible in the latest imagery of the area.
It’s unclear whether the camp was cleared by the military or civilians. The IDF facilitated evacuations in the area near the Indonesian Hospital within the 10-day period when the images were taken.
It’s not yet clear how long the Israeli offensive in the north will continue for. Aid organisations and members of the international community like the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), have raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza, citing limited humanitarian aid getting through.
*Mohammed’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
Additional reporting by Celine Alkhaldi, Middle East producer, Michelle Inez Simon, visual investigations producer, Sam Doak, OSINT producer and Adam Parker, OSINT editor.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
World
His only ‘crime’ is being Venezuelan and having tattoos, says brother of man ‘thrown to the lions’ in El Salvador jail
Until five weeks ago, Arturo Suarez was a professional singer, performing in the United States as he waited for his asylum claim to be processed.
Originally from Venezuela, he had entered the US through proper, legal channels.
But he is now imprisoned in a notorious jail in El Salvador, sent there by the Trump administration, despite seemingly never having faced trial or committed any crime. The White House claims he is a gang member but has not provided evidence to support this allegation.
His brother, Nelson Suarez, told Sky News he believes his brother’s only “crime” is being Venezuelan and having tattoos.
Arturo Suarez, in a music video, is now in a notorious prison in El Salvador
“He is not a gang member,” Nelson says, adamantly, “I’ve come to the conclusion that it has to be because of the tattoos. If you don’t have a criminal record, you haven’t committed any crime in the United States, what other reason could there be? Because you’re Venezuelan?”
Arturo, 34, was recording a music video inside a house in March when he was arrested by immigration agents.
He was first taken to a deportation centre in El Paso, Texas, and then, it appears, put on to a military flight to El Salvador.
Nelson Suarez insists his brother Arturo is not a gang member
His family have not heard from him since. Lawyers and immigrant rights groups have been unable to make contact with any of the more than 200 Venezuelan men sent to the CECOT prison, which holds members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs.
Tattoo clue to Arturo Suarez’s whereabouts
Nelson learned his brother is – most likely – in CECOT only because of a photograph he spotted on a news website of a group of inmates, with their hands and feet cuffed, heads shaved and bodies shackled together.
A group of inmates are processed to be imprisoned in the CECOT jail in EL Salvador. Pic: Reuters
Nelson Suarez believes this is his brother Arturo Suarez due to his distinctive hummingbird tattoo. Pic: Reuters
“You can see the hummingbird tattoo on his neck,” Nelson says, pointing to the picture. He says Arturo wanted a hummingbird in memory of their late mother. Arturo has 33 tattoos in total, including a piano, poems and verses from the Bible.
It could be that one, or more, of those tattoos landed him at the centre of President Trump’s anti-immigration showpiece. Nelson shows me documents which indicate that Arturo did not have a criminal record in Venezuela, Chile, Colombia or the United States, the four countries he has lived in.
Sky News contacted the White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a response to Arturo’s case but have not heard back.
In March, Donald Trump signed the Alien Enemies Act, a law from 1798 which has been invoked just three times before, in wartime.
It allows the president to detain and deport immigrants living legally in the US if they are from countries deemed “enemies” of the government. In this instance, Mr Trump claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had “infiltrated the United States” and was “conducting irregular warfare”.
Alleged gang members imprisoned in the CECOT jail in El Salvador. Pic: Reuters
Gang symbol tattoos
Immigration officials have centred on certain tattoos being gang symbols. Immigration officers were provided with a document called the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide”, according to a court filing from the American Civil Liberties Union. The document provides a point-based system to determine if an immigrant in custody “may be validated” as a gang member.
Migrants who score six points and higher may be designated as members of the Tren de Aragua gang, according to the document. Tattoos which fall under a “symbolism” category score four points and social media posts “displaying” gang symbols are two points. Tattoos considered suspicious, according to the document, include crowns, stars and the Michael Jordan Jumpman logo.
Jerce Reyes Barrios’s story
Another of the men sent to CECOT prison is 36-year-old Jerce Reyes Barrios, who fled Venezuela last year after marching in anti-government protests. He is a former footballer and football coach.
His lawyer, Linette Tobin, told Sky News that Reyes Barrios entered the US legally after waiting in Mexico for four months for an immigration appointment and then presenting himself at the border.
Jerce Reyes Barrios
She says he was detained in a maximum security prison in the US while awaiting his asylum appointment. But before that appointment happened, he was flown to the El Salvador prison.
Ms Tobin says the DHS deported Reyes Barrios because they designated him a Tren De Aragua gang member based on two pieces of evidence.
The first, she says, is a tattoo of the Real Madrid football team logo surrounded by rosary beads. She has since obtained a declaration from the tattoo artist stating that Reyes Barrios just wanted an image which depicted his favourite team.
Jerce Reyes Barrios’s lawyer says he has a tattoo of the Real Madrid logo surrounded by rosary beads
The second piece of evidence, she says, is a photograph, which she shows me, of Reyes Barrios in a hot tub with friends when he was a college student 13 years ago.
He is making a gesture which could be interpreted as “rock and roll”, but which she says has been interpreted as a gang symbol.
Lawyer Linette Tobin says this gesture has been interpreted as a gang symbol
Distraught family in despair
Reyes Barrios has no criminal record in his home country. “I’ve never known anything like this,” Ms Tobin says.
“My client was deported to a third country and we have no way of getting in touch with him. His family are distraught and in despair, they cry a lot, not knowing what is going on with him. We want him returned to the United States to have a hearing and due process.”
Ms Tobin says she and other lawyers representing men sent to the El Salvador prison are trying to establish a UN working group on enforced disappearances to do a wellness check on them because the prison is completely “incommunicado”.
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17 March: US migrants deported to El Salvador
Sky News contacted the DHS for comment about Reyes Barrios’s case but did not receive a response. The DHS previously issued a statement declaring that “DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang-affiliated tattoos. This man’s own social media indicates he is a member of Tren de Aragua”.
Reyes Barrios has an immigration hearing scheduled for 17 April, Ms Tobin says, which the Trump administration is trying to dismiss on the grounds that he is not in the US anymore.
In the meantime, children he used to coach football for in his hometown of Machiques in Venezuela have been holding a prayer vigil for him and calling for his release.
The secretary of the DHS, Kristi Noem, visited CECOT last month and posed for photos standing in front of inmates behind bars.
Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem visited CECOT in March. Pic: Reuters
“Do not come to our country illegally,” she said, “you will be removed, and you will be prosecuted.” Donald Trump had promised during his election campaign to clamp down on immigration, railing against undocumented immigrants and claiming immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”.
I ask Arturo Suarez’s brother, Nelson, how he felt watching Ms Noem posing in the prison, knowing that his brother might be close by.
“I feel bad,” he says, “I feel horrible, because in those images we only see criminals. With my brother, I feel it is more a political issue. They needed numbers, they said, these are the numbers, and now, let’s throw them to the lions.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: AP
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s story
The Trump administration has admitted that at least one man sent to the El Salvador jail was sent by “administrative error”. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was living in Maryland, was sent to CECOT despite a judge’s earlier ruling in 2019 that granted him legal protection to stay in the US.
The White House has alleged Garcia is an MS-13 gang member, but his lawyers argued there is no evidence to prove this.
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A federal judge has ordered Garcia must be returned to the US by Monday 7 April. In a post on X, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller referred to the judge as a “Marxist”, who “now thinks she’s president of El Salvador”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “We suggest the judge contact President Bukele because we are unaware of the judge having jurisdiction or authority over the country of El Salvador.”
World
Israeli airstrikes kill more than 30 people in Gaza – including more than a dozen women and children
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 30 people in Gaza, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials have said.
Strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
Later on Sunday, at least two people were killed, and six others injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in Khan Younis located outside the Nasser hospital, which was being used as a base by a number of journalists.
A number of them were among the injured, according to hospital officials.
Footage showed a journalist being engulfed by flames after his tent was hit by an airstrike. He is reported to be in a critical condition.
On Sunday, at least two people were killed, and six others injured when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in Khan Younis which was being used as a base by a number of journalists. Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, according to an Associated Press journalist there.
And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery, killing six, including three children, according to the civil defence, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
Last month, Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas and restarted its air and ground offensive.
It has carried out waves of strikes and seized territory in an attempt to pressure Hamas to accept a new deal for a truce and release the remaining hostages.
It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid for over a month.
“Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate,” the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media.
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Israel ‘seizing territory’ in Gaza
On Sunday night, Israel’s military ordered Palestinians to evacuate several neighbourhoods in Gaza’s Deir al Balah shortly after around 10 projectiles were fired from Gaza.
The military said around five were intercepted, and Hamas’s military arm claimed responsibility.
Police said a rocket fell in Ashkelon, an Israeli city just to the north of Gaza, and fragments fell in several other areas.
The Magen David Adom emergency service said one man was lightly injured, and the military later said it struck a rocket launcher in Gaza.
A woman bakes bread in an oven in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
Netanyahu visits Trump
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the United States to meet with Donald Trump to discuss the war.
Mr Netanyahu said the pair would also discuss the new 17% tariff imposed on Israel as part of Mr Trump’s sweeping new tariffs.
“There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies. I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” Mr Netanyahu said during a visit to Hungary.
The war between Israel and Hamas began when Hamas-led militants invaded Israel on 7 October 2023 and killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.
Some 59 hostages are still being held in Gaza, with 24 still believed to be alive.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians or combatants, with another 115,338 wounded.
Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants.
Marine Le Pen made one thing abundantly clear. She is not going quietly.
She may have been disgraced in a Paris courtroom, convicted of embezzlement, sentenced and barred from office for five years.
But there was no sense of shame or regret in her speech to the party faithful. Nor would you expect there to be. She is the victim of an establishment stitch-up, she believes, or claims to, and the crowds watching her speak in the French capital heartily agreed.
The hard-right National Rally party’s leader was found guilty of being part of a huge and orchestrated campaign to swindle the European parliament and its taxpayers, using phony accounts to raise millions.
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Le Pen invokes Martin Luther King Jr
The judge in the case saw a politician who had long campaigned for tougher penalties for corrupt politicians and decided it only fitting to throw the book at her.
For political foes, watching their most feared enemy sent off the pitch, is all very welcome. Former prime minister Gabriel Attal told supporters at another rally she stole money and should do the punishment.
But even Le Pen’s rivals are queasy about the five-year ban from office. Some legal observers believe the judge went too far.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case, it does nothing to ease the country’s political crisis.
Nothing to address the festering sense of un-enfranchised grievance on the fringes of society that helped propel Le Pen to such popularity in the first place.
Jordan Bardella, National Rally’s president, spoke at the same event. Pic: Reuters
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And other populists in France and abroad are exploiting this as a cause celebre for all it’s worth.
Populists see society divided between “the people” and corrupt elites governing them.
Le Pen’s plight fits their narrative perfectly. Not surprisingly, her speech was preceded by a series of short videos from other rightist populists, from Mateo Salvini in Italy to Geert Wilders in the Netherlands.
In America, Donald Trump and his ally Elon Musk have also pitched in.
Le Pen may have been banished into the political wilderness but can still cause enormous trouble from there.
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