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Central Gaza Strip – Thousands of displaced Palestinians have been forced to leave Gaza City and northern Gaza, making their way to the central region of the coastal territory under attack by Israel.

But many Palestinians described the so-called “safe corridors” that Israel announced to allow for their evacuation as replete with horror.

Ahmad al-Ruweishi had been staying at Al Fakhoura school in the Jabalia refugee camp when the Israeli army bombed it on Saturday, killing at least 100 civilians.

He said he helped move the remains of at least 20 people killed, as their bodies were torn into pieces.

“I had to leave to protect my family,” he said. “It was a tough journey and the soldiers shot at me just because I was pushing my mother in her wheelchair.”

Al-Ruweishi said the Israeli soldiers made the men strip naked and arrested some of them.

“You could not look behind you, and if you dropped anything, they would shoot if you bent down to pick it up,” he said.

The United Nations says at least 1.6 million Palestinians have been internally displaced, with a majority of them staying at UN-run schools. Others are staying with host families or in hospitals.

For weeks, the Israeli military has called on the Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee to the south, but has continued to target and bomb civilians even there.

“We saw death in every colour on Salah al-Din Street,” said Mahmoud al-Madhoun, referring to the main arterial road that connects the north with the south.

“We saw burned-out cars and dead bodies on the road, with dogs eating away at their flesh,” he said. “We couldn’t even dignify them by covering them up with blankets.”

Al-Madhoun was staying at al-Shifa Hospital before he managed to leave on Saturday. He narrated the terror that patients and displaced people at the hospital felt when Israeli soldiers raided the complex and targeted it with bombs.

“When we were able to finally leave the hospital, there were Israeli snipers stationed at the roads,” he said.

“They had erected dirt barriers and used surveillance technology that took our eye print. It was frightening. We never thought we would see the soldiers in the heart of our city where we lived and worked.”

As there were no cars or even ambulances for the sick and injured, al-Madhoun said, they covered the long journey on foot. He said the Israeli soldiers ordered them to hold their IDs in hand.

He also saw men, women and children being taken away by the soldiers, their fate unknown.

“These are not ‘safe corridors’, these are ‘deception corridors,’” he said. “They humiliate us, take us away, or shoot at us.”

The black beaver felt hat, sold at a record price, belonged to the ruler of the French empire in the 19th century.

A hat belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte when he was French emperor has sold for a record of nearly two million euros at a French auction.

The black beaver felt hat went for 1.932 million euros ($2.1 million) on Sunday at the Drouot auction house, breaking the previous record for a Napoleonic hat held by the same auction house: 1.884 million euros in 2014.

The hat, known as a bicorne, is in Napoleon’s trademark colours – black, with the French flag’s colours blue-white-red as insignia – and attracted collectors “from the world over”, auctioneer Jeane-Pierre Osenat said, declining to give the identity or nationality of the eventual buyer.

The hat was last owned by businessman Jean-Louis Noisiez, who died last year.

The final price was more than double the estimate of 600,000 to 800,000 euros ($655,00 to $873,000), and nearly four times the reserve price, said the auction house based in Fontainebleau, south of Paris.

Napoleon is believed to have owned around 120 such hats in total, most of which are now lost.

“One million four hundred fifty thousand [euros] to my left, 1.5 million, we have 1.5 million in the room, 1.5 million for Napoleon’s hat. We’re leaving it at 1.5 million for this major Napoleon symbol, I’m selling for 1.5 million [before fees], no regrets, sold,” Osenat said as he brought down the hammer to applause.

Napoleon wore the felt hat towards the middle of his time as emperor, which lasted from 1808 to 1815, according to the auction house.

Unlike most other people at the time, Napoleon wore his hat sideways, which gave him a distinct silhouette easily recognised by his troops in battle.

Napoleon rose to prominence during the French Revolution, becoming a key figure in the revolutionary wars. He served the republic as first consul, and had himself crowned as emperor in 1804.

He was exiled in 1815 after losing the battle against British and Prussian forces at Waterloo and died in 1821 on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sunday’s hat sale comes only days before a biopic on Napoleon reaches cinemas worldwide. The film, by Ridley Scott, features massive-scale battles across Europe but also portrays the emperor’s complex relationship with his wife Josephine.

Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Napoleon in the movie, said of the late emperor that he was “socially awkward”, but also a “romantic”.

Yemen’s Houthis say they have taken control of an Israeli-owned ship in the southern Red Sea, with Israel describing the incident as an “Iranian act of terrorism” with consequences for international maritime security.

A Houthi military spokesman confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that its fighters hijacked the British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo ship.

At least 22 people were onboard the Galaxy Leader – reported to be partly owned by an Israeli businessman – which was en route from Turkey to India.

“We have received confirmation from a Houthi official that they hijacked this ship. Earlier today [Sunday], they announced the beginning of operations to attack Israeli-flagged ships. They warned international sailors not to work for such companies,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed al-Attab, reporting from Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

“We are treating the crew in accordance with Islamic norms and principles,” said Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree in a statement later on Sunday.

He renewed the warning that any ship belonging to Israel or those who support it will be a legitimate target for Houthi forces.

“We confirm our continuation of military operations against [Israel] until the aggression and ugly crimes against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza and the West Bank stop,” said Saree.

The Houthis, backed by Tehran, have launched several missile and drone attacks against Israel since the latest assault on the besieged Gaza Strip began on October 7, killing more than 12,300 Palestinians, including 5,000 children.

“The Houthis have carried out a number of attacks on Iranian targets. We are expecting more attacks in the coming days,” al-Attab said.

The Israeli government called the hijack “a very serious event on a global level”, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office saying Israel was not involved in the ship’s ownership, operation or the makeup of its international crew.

“This is another Iranian act of terrorism that represents an escalation in Iran’s belligerence against the citizens of the free world, with concomitant international ramifications vis-a-vis the security of global shipping routes,” said a statement released by the prime minister’s office.

“There were no Israelis on the ship,” it said, adding the 25 crew members are from Ukraine, Mexico, the Philippines and Bulgaria, among other countries.

Israel’s military also denied the ship was Israeli. In a statement on X, it said: “The hijacking of a cargo ship by the Houthis near Yemen in the southern Red Sea is a very grave incident of global consequence.”

“The ship departed Turkey on its way to India, staffed by civilians of various nationalities, not including Israelis. It is not an Israeli ship,” the Israeli army said.

A United States defence official said the US is “aware of the situation and closely monitoring it”.

“What we understand is that the shipping company is partly owned by an Israeli businessman and this wouldn’t be the first time one of his ships was intercepted. In 2021, one of his vessels was also targeted,” said Al Jazeera’s Sara Khairat, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem.

Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said there has been no evidence put forth by Israel that Iran is behind the hijack.

“This is an accusation made by the Israeli prime minister’s office without any concrete evidence to support it,” she said.

The war in Gaza has sent tensions soaring in the region, with international organisations and political leaders warning of a potential wider regional conflict.

“Iran in the past has distanced itself from these various armed groups in the Middle East that are against Israel,” Jabbari said.

“But given Israel’s continuous bombardment of Gaza and what they call ‘genocide’ against the Palestinian population, the Iranians are saying the conflict could spread.”

Israel’s military has released a video of what it claims is a 55-metre tunnel used by Hamas beneath Gaza’s largest hospital.

The footage, published on social media, is “more proof” that Hamas is using patients as “human shields”, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claim.

The video, at al Shifa, begins with images of what is described as an “operational tunnel shaft”, which looks like a circular hole in the ground.

The shaft is said to drop 10 metres, containing a three-metre ladder and a spiral staircase for the other seven metres, the IDF said.

At the bottom is a tunnel in two sections of five metres and 50 metres, the IDF added.

“The tunnel entrance contains various defence mechanisms, such as a blast-proof door and a firing hole, in an attempt by Hamas to block Israeli forces from entering,” the IDF said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“For weeks we’ve been telling the world about Hamas’s cynical use of the residents of the Gaza and patients of Shifa Hospital as human shields. Here is more proof.”

The video was filmed on Friday 17 November according to a date stamp on the footage.

The IDF has said Hamas has a command centre beneath the hospital – a claim denied by Hamas and by hospital staff.

Earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said al Shifa hospital – once the largest, most advanced and best-equipped hospital in Gaza – had essentially stopped functioning as a medical facility.

A hat belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte has sold at auction in France for an estimate-busting €1.9m (£1.69m).

The garment was expected to go for up to €600,000 (£525,000) when it went under the hammer on Sunday.

Auction house Osenat said it was a “world record” amount for one of Napoleon’s hats.

It was part of industrialist Jean-Louis Noisiez’s collection of Napoleonic memorabilia, which also included a silver plate looted from his carriage after he was defeated at Waterloo, a wooden vanity case and a silver toothbrush.

However, it was the felt black hat that was the centrepiece of the collection.

While most officers wore their bicorne hats with the points facing forwards and backwards, Napoleon wore his with the tips in line with his shoulders.

The style – known as en bataille – made it easier for him to spot the military general in combat.

According to the auctioneers, the hat in question was recovered by Colonel Pierre Baillon, a quartermaster under Napoleon and one of his military comrades.

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It was then passed through several hands before Mr Noisiez, who died in 2022 acquired it for his collection.

“For people who are into Napoleonic souvenirs, it’s the holy grail to have a hat,” said Jean-Pierre Osenat, head of the Osenat auction house.

“There’s about 20 left that are authentic and about 15 of them are kept in museums, so there’s about four or five that are in collectors’ hands.”

The auction comes as Ridley Scott releases his cinematic Napoleon biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix.