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Fears over the safety of Palestinian civilians are growing as Israel suggests its bombardment of Gaza will shift to southern areas, having destroyed swathes of the north.

Leaflets have been dropped by the Israeli military in some areas of the south, near Khan Younis, warning residents to leave as Israel declared the “next stage” of their offensive has begun.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are reportedly already displaced in southern parts since Israel’s campaign focused largely in the north, which came after similar leafleting.

Israel-Gaza latest: Satellite images show huge crowds trying to flee to southern Gaza

Sky News has obtained an image of one of the flyers, which tells locals they “must evacuate” and “go to known shelters” – but it does not specify any shelters or suggest a safe area.

Challenged by Sky News on where the people of Khan Younis should go, Mark Regev, an adviser to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Gazans will “know exactly what to do”.

“I think the people of Gaza who will read those leaflets know exactly what to do,” he said. “And the same cynicism was expressed when we leafleted the north.

“And yet, the overwhelming majority of the population heeded our advice and did leave areas of combat and did move south, and therefore were saved from being caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas.

“And I believe you’ll see the same thing now.”

In other developments:
• UN aid deliveries to Gaza were suspended on Friday due to shortages of fuel and a communications shut down;
• The UN’s World Food Programme said civilians faced the “immediate possibility of starvation” due to the lack of supplies;
• Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 12,000 people are confirmed dead, with 5,000 of them children and many others trapped under rubble;
• Israel says its military has found the bodies of two hostages in Gaza in as many days

Mr Regev added there are areas to the west of Khan Younis where Israeli forces are not expecting heavy fighting, but he admitted it is “not a perfect solution”.

Israel would do its “utmost to protect the civilian population”, he said, though Mr Netanyahu admitted on Thursday the country’s attempts to minimise civilians casualties were “not successful”.

Movements towards the south have reportedly been disrupted by ongoing attacks, with bombing also reported in southern areas.

Satellite images show a mass of people, seemingly moving south, appearing to be obstructed.

While southern parts of the Gaza Strip brace for a new wave of attacks in the coming days, Israel’s focus this week has largely been on al Shifa hospital, which is the territory’s largest.

Human Rights Watch warned hospitals have special protections under the laws of war and only lose that status “if it can be shown that harmful acts have been carried out from the premises”.

Israel has long maintained the hospital sits above a vast underground bunker housing a Hamas command headquarters, an assertion backed by the US.

After two days of searching the premises – which were raided earlier this week – Israeli forces said they found a vehicle with weapons, and a tunnel shaft.

Read more:
Israel now occupies Gaza having completely destroyed it – so what does it do now?
Inside Gaza’s ‘humanitarian corridors’: Sky News witnesses hundreds moving south

Hospital staff have denied Hamas has a command centre under the hospital, and so far no conclusive evidence has been offered by Israel.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry claimed on Thursday 26 out of 35 hospitals in the territory are no longer running, while the remaining nine are only partly functioning.

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Israel has repeatedly been warned by allies to ensure the safety of civilians, while aid agencies have criticised the country’s humanitarian response.

Hamas claims more than 12,000 people have been killed since the attack on Gaza began, while Israel says 1,200 were killed when the militants attacked the south of the country on 7 October.

Israel also says Hamas took 242 captives back to Gaza as hostages – with its military announcing two bodies have been found in the past two days.

Israeli troops are continuing their operation at Gaza’s biggest hospital, al Shifa, which has been a primary target of the ground assault.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) entered al Shifa on Wednesday as it believes Hamas’ headquarters are located underneath the hospital within a complex network of tunnels and operational offices.

The Palestinian Islamist group and doctors at al Shifa deny it is being used by Hamas.

Sky News has located three videos taken in two different areas inside the al Shifa complex and released by the IDF and analysed some of the evidence found.

Alleged tunnel shaft

The Israeli army claims it has found the entrance to a Hamas tunnel shaft in its latest video posted on Friday.

It’s filmed in the eastern edge of the hospital – as the side of the surgery building is seen in the background of the video.

The hole highlighted in the video appears to be a few metres deep littered with and surrounded by concrete, wood, rubble and sand.

Twisted metal can be seen around the opening of the hole. In part of the footage, a bulldozer can seen in the background.

The lower part of the alleged tunnel appears to have a smooth surface, but it offers only a limited view, so it is difficult to be certain what purpose it might serve.

From the position and length of the shadow, Sky News estimates the footage above was taken between 12pm and 2pm local time on Thursday.

But beyond that it is not possible to gauge how deep it goes. The army has not released further footage at al Shifa relating to alleged tunnels.

Weapons ‘found’ in truck

The IDF posted another video inside al Shifa on Thursday and said it found a white vehicle inside the complex which it claims contained dozens of weapons.

Ammunition, knives, RPGs, bulletproof vests and handcuffs are among the objects laid out on blankets. Plate carriers are used to carry bulletproof plates and other equipment, and rifle magazines store bullets used in the firearm.

While the images and footage do not prove who the weapons belong to, military analyst Sean Bell says they are among the types of weapons used by Hamas.

He said: “As they are a militia group, they use small arms like AK-47s and hand grenades. An AK-47 is widely used and is the sort of the weapon of choice for a lot of militia groups.”

The footage was taken metres away from the alleged tunnel, as you can also see the surgery building in the background.

This location is not in an area previously highlighted by the IDF where it believes Hamas’ headquarters and depots are underground as seen in the map below.

A doctor at al Shifa, Ahmed El Mokhallalati, said it is a “totally terrifying situation” at the hospital, adding that Israeli forces had “found nothing”. The hospital is packed with patients and displaced people and is struggling to maintain operations.

The latest series of videos from al Shifa follow another released by the IDF on Wednesday, which showed Israeli forces walking through the hospital’s MRI clinic behind the emergency department.

What has the IDF said about al Shifa?

It is known that Hamas has a vast network of underground tunnels within the Gaza Strip. However, the group denies Israeli claims that it uses the hospital as a shield for tunnels and operational centres.

Israeli military officials say their operation inside the hospital is based on their understanding of a “well-hidden terrorist infrastructure” in the complex.

The IDF has previously said the entrance to Hamas’ underground HQ consists of a “number of tunnels shafts adjacent to the hospital”, adding that “additional entrances are located in various departments of the hospital, including the admissions department”, in a press release on 27 October.

It also released a video featuring an illustration of the type of infrastructure it believes exists underneath the hospital as seen in the screenshot above.

In a news conference, IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the force would “not share the true material that we have in our hands.”

It has said Hamas has stored weapons and ammunition and is holding hostages in a network of tunnels under hospitals like al Shifa, using patients and people taking shelter there as human shields. Hamas has denied operating out of medical facilities.

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.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians fled the region after Azeri forces seized the territory after a lightning offensive.

Judges at the top UN court have said that Azerbaijan must allow ethnic Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh during an Azerbaijani military takeover to return to their homes.

In a decision on Friday, the International Court of Justice said that previous ethnic Armenian residents must be allowed back and that those who remained there must be kept safe.

“Azerbaijan must … ensure that persons who have left Nagorno-Karabakh after September 19, 2023, and who wish to return to Nagorno-Karabakh are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner,” presiding judge Joan Donoghue said.

Azerbaijan captured Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as Azeri territory, after defeating separatist ethnic Armenian fighters in a lightning campaign in September. Since the assault, most of the region’s 120,000 ethnic Armenians have fled for neighbouring Armenia.

Yerevan has accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing, while Baku has argued that it is seizing control of a breakaway territory whose status has been contested through several wars.

Azerbaijan’s assault was preceded by a more than nine-month siege that choked off access to essential goods for residents.

The court also stated that Azerbaijan must guarantee that those Armenians who remain in Nagorno-Karabakh “are free from the use of force or intimidation that may cause them to flee”.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “is committed to upholding the human rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh on an equal basis with other citizens of Azerbaijan”.

But many ethnic Armenians who fled have expressed doubts that they will be safe if they return to the enclave, if they are allowed back at all, under the rule of what they see as a hostile power.

‘Actual truth’: Musk voiced support for post that accused Jews of weakening the West through support for immigration.

The White House has condemned Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and owner of the social media site X formerly known as Twitter, for promoting a “hideous” anti-Semitic conspiracy theory on his platform.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, White House spokesman Andrew Bates criticised Musk for calling an anti-Jewish tweet, which accused Jews of undermining Western civilisation through support for immigration, “the actual truth”.

“We condemn this abhorrent promotion of anti-Semitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans,” Bates said.

Musk ignited a firestorm of criticism when he praised a post on X, echoing the belief, common among white nationalists, that white people in Western countries are being “replaced” with an influx of immigrants from countries in the global south.

The conspiracy theory that Jews are responsible for facilitating this “replacement” through support for immigration and resettling refugees is the same belief that motivated a far-right gunman who stormed a synagogue in the city of Pittsburgh and killed 11 worshipers.

That attack, which took place in October 2018, was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history.

“It is unacceptable to repeat the hideous lie behind the most fatal act of anti-Semitism in American history,” Bates said.

It is not the first time that Musk has embraced rhetoric about immigration that critics say mirrors that used by the far right.

In September, Musk said Germany’s practice of rescuing refugees at risk of drowning in the Mediterranean and bringing them to Europe had “invasion vibes”, using a term commonly used to portray migrants as a hostile force intent on taking over a country rather than people seeking refuge.

Musk has expressed little regret over the recent controversy.

On Thursday, the X owner liked a post from a popular account stating that Musk had come under attack for having “the audacity to criticize progressive Jewish organizations for their anti-white policies” by critics who ignore “actual anti-Semitic politicians and groups”.

“Bullseye!!” Musk replied.

Advertisers are fleeing X over concerns about their content showing up next to pro-Nazi posts and hate speech on the site in general, The Associated Press news agency reported.

IBM said this week that it stopped advertising on X after a report said its ads were appearing alongside material praising Nazis, in a new setback as the platform tries to win back big brands and their ad revenue.

“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” the company said in a statement.

Liberal advocacy group Media Matters said in a report on Thursday that advertisements from Apple, Oracle, NBCUniversal’s Bravo network and Comcast were  also placed next to anti-Semitic material on X, according to The AP.

At least one person is believed to have died after a powerful undersea earthquake with a 6.7 magnitude struck the Philippines.

The tremor, which lasted several seconds, occurred around 16 miles (26km) off Burias at the southern tip of the archipelago, the US Geological Survey said.

The Office of Civil Defence said it was investigating a report that one person had died.

Scientists said no tsunami was expected, but residents were advised to be on alert for aftershocks and damage.

The quake caused ceilings to collapse at a school and in two shopping centres, as pillars swayed and terrified shoppers screamed and cowered in fear.

Videos on social media showed ceilings falling at the SM City General Santos mall and the Robinsons GenSan mall, which both announced temporary closures.

Radio announcer Leny Aranego, of General Santos city in South Cotabato, said the strong earthquake cracked walls and toppled some computers from desks.

Meanwhile, passengers at an airport in the city were evacuated to the tarmac.

Footage on social media appeared to show some buildings being evacuated – as well as cracks forming on some roads.

The presidential palace said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr had instructed government agencies to ensure the safety and wellbeing of everyone affected by the earthquake.

The president tweeted that officials are “actively responding to ensure the safety of our citizens”.

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The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it happened at a depth of six miles (10km).

The Philippines lies on the “Ring of Fire”, a belt of volcanoes circling the Pacific Ocean that is prone to earthquakes.

At least four people died and dozens were injured after an earthquake hit in July last year – setting off landslides and damaging buildings.

Two hospitals in the capital, Manila, were evacuated as the tremor unleashed a trail of destruction, with one victim hit by falling cement slabs at his home in the northern province of Abra.