The United Nations has said it is “impossible” for Palestinians to move to the south of Gaza in the next 24 hours, after citizens were ordered to evacuate by Israel’s military.
It came as the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency warned Gaza was becoming a “hell hole” and was on the “brink of collapse”.
The evacuation order is the strongest hint yet from Israel that it is preparing to launch a ground offensive on Gaza almost a week after Hamas’s surprise assault.
It also began dropping leaflets written in Arabic into the Gaza Strip urging people in the north of the area to move south across the Wadi Gaza – a piece of coastal wetland with a river running through the middle.
Image: A leaflet urging civilians in the north of Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south
UN officials in Gaza “were informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement in New York.
“This amounts to approximately 1.1 million people,” he added, or nearly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population.
Mr Dujarric said the UN “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences”.
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Warning leaflets drop in Gaza
It came after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said “this evacuation is for your own safety”, but in response, Hamas has called the warning “fake propaganda” and urged Palestinians “not to fall for it”.
The UN has appealed for the order to be rescinded to avoid turning “what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.
Image: A map showing the evacuation area of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, down to the Wadi Gaza
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‘This evacuation is for your own safety’
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on Friday that he “rejects the forced displacement” of Palestinians in Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
He said such an event would constitute a “second Nakba” – referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation – adding that humanitarian corridors must be allowed in the blockaded coastal enclave immediately to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) called for an “immediate intervention” from the international community to prevent a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
“We don’t have the means to evacuate the sick and the wounded people in our hospitals or the elderly and the disabled,” a spokesperson for the humanitarian group said.
Image: Palestinians flee their homes heading toward the southern part of the Gaza Strip
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said local health authorities in Gaza had informed its officials it was impossible to evacuate vulnerable hospital patients from northern Gaza within 24 hours.
“There are severely ill people whose injuries mean their only chances of survival is being on life support, such as mechanical ventilators,” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.
“So moving those people is a death sentence. Asking health workers to do so is beyond cruel.”
Image: Israeli tanks head towards the Gaza Strip border. Pic: AP
Image: The Israel Defence Forces fire artillery shells into Gaza. File pic: DPA/AP
Sunak shows support as number of dead grows
Earlier, Rishi Sunak told Israel’s prime minister to “protect ordinary Palestinians” as it continues its fightback against Hamas.
A Number 10 spokeswoman said Mr Sunak “reiterated that the UK stands side by side with Israel in fighting terror” in his phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu, adding Hamas should “never again be able to perpetrate atrocities against the Israeli people”.
The country is targeting Hamas after the militant group carried out a wave of attacks in Israel as gunmen stormed the border and killed hundreds in their homes – as well as 260 others at a music festival.
Meanwhile, at least 500 children and 276 women are among the estimated 1,537 Palestinians who have died with more than 6,000 wounded, the Gaza health ministry has said.
What would the north Gaza evacuation look like if it happened in the UK?
The evacuation of approximately 1.1 million people from the north of Gaza to the south is equivalent to moving the population of Birmingham to the nearby town of Dudley.
It is approximately 10.5 miles (17km) from the northernmost point of the evacuation area, the Erez Crossing from Israel into Gaza, to the bridge over the Wadi Gaza.
It would take an average person around four hours to walk – and that’s without interruption and on the assumption that the route is well-maintained.
But the evacuation of northern Gaza involves moving hundreds of thousands of people through the already compact and densely populated streets of Gaza City.
The area also contains 11 hospitals, three compounds run by the United Nations and two refugee camps. All of them will need to be evacuated within 24 hours.
And there is the additional logistical challenge of navigating streets lined with rubble and burnt-out cars after days of retaliatory air strikes by Israeli forces.
White phosphorous used, human rights group claims
On the ground in Gaza, it has been claimed white phosphorous has been used as a weapon, which can indiscriminately burn people, thermally and chemically.
Human Rights Watch said Israel used the chemical in Gaza and Lebanon, claiming it had verified footage from 10 and 11 October, respectively, showing multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.
It said the weapon’s use “violates the international humanitarian law prohibition on putting civilians at unnecessary risk”.
Asked for comment on the allegations, Israel’s military said it was “currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorous in Gaza”.
Elsewhere on Friday, tens of thousands of people gathered in Tahrir Square in Iraq’s capital of Baghdad to show solidarity with Palestine.
Protesters also took to the streets of Iran – a key backer of Hamas – in support of the Palestinian people.
Image: A huge crow gathered in Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday to show solidarity with Palestinians
Jordan’s King Abdullah on Friday responded to Israel’s evacuation order, and warned its neighbour against any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians.
In a statement published by the Royal Court, he said there should be no “spillover” of the ongoing crisis into neighbouring countries.
Jordan, which borders Israel to the southeast, maintains peaceful – though often tense – relations with the Israeli government.
Thailand has launched airstrikes and said it has struck military targets along the border with Cambodia, as both sides accused the other of attacking first.
One Thai soldier was killed and eight others wounded, according to Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree, who also said Cambodian troops fired first into Thai territory.
Thailand used aircraft “to strike military targets in several areas to suppress Cambodian supporting fire attacks,” he added.
In Cambodia, Met Measpheakdey, deputy governor of Oddar Meanchey province, wrote in a Facebook post that three civilians had been seriously injured.
Cambodian officials said the Thai military attacked their troops first in Preah Vihear province.
“Cambodia urges that Thailand immediately stop all hostile activities that threaten peace and stability in the region,” said Cambodian defence ministry spokesperson Maly Socheata.
Tensions have simmered since the neighbouring countries signed a US-brokered ceasefire agreement in October, put forward by US President Donald Trump.
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Image: Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet shake hands next to US President Donald Trump in October. Pic: Reuters
Their territorial disputes led to five days of combat in July that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said that military operations would be carried out as necessary to defend the country and protect public safety.
“Thailand has never wished for violence. I’d like to reiterate that Thailand has never initiated a fight or an invasion, but will never tolerate a violation of its sovereignty,” he said.
In Thailand, more than 385,000 civilians across several border districts are being evacuated, with over 35,000 already housed in temporary shelters, military officials said.
Image: People rest at a shelter in Buriram province, Thailand, after fresh military clashes. Pic: Reuters
Image: A concrete shelter in Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani province. Pic: AP
Meanwhile, the Cambodian Education Ministry said several schools along the border had been shut.
Footage posted online showed what appeared to be students hurriedly leaving classes to meet their parents.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim urged Thailand and Cambodia to “exercise maximum restraint”.
In a post on social media, he added: “Our region cannot afford to see long-standing disputes slip into cycles of confrontation.”
Si Sa Ket, Surin and Ubon Ratchathani provinces in Thailand, and Cambodia’s Preah Vihear and Oddar Meanchey provinces were among the areas said to be caught up in the latest clashes.
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On Sunday, both nations accused each other of opening fire along the border in what the Thai army said was an incident that lasted around 20 minutes and resulted in the injury of two of its soldiers.
But Cambodia said that the Thai side fired first and that Cambodian troops did not retaliate.
For more than a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at points along their 508-mile (817km) land border.
Donald Trump’s eldest son has said his father may walk away from the Ukraine peace process, claiming the issue is not a priority for Americans, and signalling Europe needs a better plan.
In a wide-ranging discussion with Sky’s lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim at Doha Forum 2025, Donald Trump Jr addressed issues including the US administration’s recent diplomatic efforts around the world.
He was speaking in his capacity as a business leader, setting out his agenda for “America first” investments in defence technology and artificial intelligence (AI), drawing a direct line between global stability and economic prosperity.
Image: Donald Trump meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Washington earlier this year. Pic: Reuters
When asked directly if he believed the US president would walk away from Ukraine, he answered: “I think he may, what’s good about my father and what’s unique about my father is you don’t know what he’s going to do. He’s unpredictable.”
President Trump has led renewed efforts for a ceasefire deal with Russia in recent months.
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Drawing a parallel with his father’s current “war” on drug cartels, Donald Trump Jr described gangs bringing illegal drugs into America as a “far greater clear and present danger to the US than anything [going on] in the Ukraine or Russia”.
While he said he did not believe Ukraine would be “abandoned”, he said: “The American public doesn’t have the appetite [for endless wars and further funding of Ukraine’s military efforts].”
Describing Ukraine as “a far more corrupt country than Russia”, he characterised Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as “one of the great marketeers of all time”, who he said had become “a borderline deity, especially to the left”.
He went on to describe President Trump’s approach as “common sense”.
China rivalry was the focus, but Musk got a mention
In a country and at a conference which is friendly, even admiring of the Trump administration, Don Jr was in his element.
He’s here in his capacity as a business leader, promoting his venture, 1789 Capital which claims to be focused on “America First” investments.
But he wasn’t shy about discussing his father’s foreign policy achievements, boasting that Donald Trump had resolved seven or eight wars – conflicts that most ordinary Americans were unaware of.
His pitch is bullish and direct – the current US administration is projecting strength globally, stopping wars and creating investment opportunities which serves the American economy. It’s the MAGA mentality for the global audience.
It’s clear that the rivalry with China is their biggest focus, especially finding ways to combat their dominance over critical minerals.
“America can no longer just sit there and hope that China is going to be a good actor… I think the rest of the world understands that they want America to be at the forefront of all of that.”
When I asked him about recent efforts by President Trump to bring the war in Ukraine to an end, he responded forcefully. “We want peace, we want to stop the death.”
But he went on to say that Europe needed to shoulder the burden and currently they have no plan.
As he sat on the stage in Qatar, the country which has been at the centre of the ceasefire efforts for Gaza, he expressed hope that peace would prevail, but balanced expectations America would fund its re-construction. This would have to be a global effort.
“If there’s one thing my father is, it’s a builder… I think he can be the greatest construction manager in the history of the world, but no one in America wants to bear the entire responsibility of that.”
And, away from international diplomatic efforts, he was happy to announce a breakthrough closer to home.
The “bromance” with Elon Musk and President Trump is back on – calling the entrepreneur a “generational talent, a generational level of genius”.
‘Bromance’ back on
He also confirmed that Tesla billionaire Elon Musk was “100% back in the fold”, after previously appearing to fall out with the president.
Earlier this year, Donald Trump Jr’s investment company, 1789 Capital, heavily invested in some of Musk’s companies, including SpaceX.
Image: Elon Musk and Donald Trump in the Oval Office at the White House in May. Pic: AP
Directly comparing President Trump with Musk, he said: “Imagine dealing with one Donald Trump – now I have to deal with two.
“They’re very similar that way, so it created some headaches… but the reality is they’re both very much aligned, they’re on message with what we want to do with our country. What we want to do with freedom of speech.”
He went on: “Elon did incredible things for Twitter, really allowed the democratisation of truth and freedom and free speech to occur. That’s something that is a true threat in America right now.”
He also praised Musk as “changing the face of free speech, science and technology”, adding, “we have to protect our geniuses”.
When asked whether Mr Trump would stand for a third term, he joked that he could be “just trolling” those on the left.
He went on, “He’s the most unpredictable person, probably in the history of politics. Which is why he’s able to get something done. We’ll see.”