Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled south - UN Tens of thousands of people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes and moved south following Israel’s evacuation warning, according to estimates by the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were already internally displaced, it said. Israel’s military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion. Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes. In addition to pro-Palestine protests reported earlier, Jewish communities in the US, France and other countries also held rallies on Friday in solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack, Reuters reports, while some governments have stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools. In the US, demonstrators have showed solidarity with both sides in the conflict, and major cities from New York City to Los Angeles have reinforced their police presence in Jewish and Muslim neighbourhoods. In Washington, a rally supporting Israel and the American Jewish community drew about 200 people at the city’s Freedom Plaza, in view of the Capitol complex, where police had erected protective fencing the night before. In New York, thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets. Germany and France had banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations and several western countries said they had stepped up security at synagogues and Jewish schools fearing that protests could lead to violence. In the Netherlands, Jewish schools were closed for safety reasons, as were two Jewish schools in London. Police in Britain’s capital said thousands of officers were carrying out extra patrols, visiting schools, synagogues and mosques. At least two Jewish schools closed due to security fears. The boost reflected a significant increase in hate crime, particularly antisemitism, a police statement said. In Warsaw, the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich, was scheduled to lead a multi-confessional prayer for peace. Members of France’s Jewish community were to gather at the largest synagogue in Paris for the Sabbath. Tens of thousands of protesters have rallied across the Middle East and in parts of Asia, Europe and the US in support of Palestinians and condemnation of Israel as it intensified its strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas attacks a week ago, according to reports by Reuters. In Turkey, crowds gathered outside mosques chanting against Israel and saluting Hamas. In the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir, 46-year-old business owner Mikail Bakan said: “All the Muslim world needs to be one against Israel.” In Baghdad on Friday, tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in central Tahrir Square, waving Palestinian flags and burning the Israeli flag while chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans. State-organised rallies were held across Iran – whose government is Hamas’ main backer and one of Israel’s principal foes – in support of the militant group, state TV reported. Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told a protest in Lebanon, the group was “fully ready” to contribute to the fighting. The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border in the past week. Thousands of Yemeni citizens carried large Palestinian flags and shouted slogans during a demonstration in support of Palestinians in the capital, Sana’a. In Indonesia, Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, joined dozens of people in a march against Israel in the Javanese city of Solo. In the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, activists protested against Israel’s actions after Friday prayers at the main mosque. Members of Japan’s Muslim community demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Tokyo, holding signs and chanting “Israel, terrorist” and “Free Palestine”. In Sri Lanka, protesters held up signs saying, “Palestine you will never walk alone”. Protesters also took to the streets in Bulgaria, Yemen, Cape Town, India’s Kashmir region, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt. Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations called for a “humanitarian cease-fire” in the Gaza Strip and Israel on Friday, while blaming the US for the ongoing conflict, according to a report by AFP news agency. The Russian draft resolution, presented to the Security Council and seen by AFP, calls for an “immediate” ceasefire and the secure release of all hostages, and “strongly condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.” The document did not specifically name Hamas. “We’re convinced that the Security Council must act to put an end to the bloodshed and restart peace negotiations with a view to establishing a Palestinian state as it was supposed to do so long ago,” Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said after the closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday. Nebenzia said there were positive responses to the draft resolution among some member states. He also blamed the US for bearing “responsibility for the looming war in the Middle East,” and criticized European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen for “turning a blind eye to the Israeli air force attacks on civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.” The Security Council is regularly divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues. Members spoke cautiously of the resolution after the meeting. “The draft resolution appeared just two minutes before we went into the council meeting,” said British Ambassador Barbara Woodward. “I think for something that is as important as this, we’ve already seen how much human life has been destroyed. We need time for consultation, serious consultation.” Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that “there is an emerging consensus on the humanitarian concerns,” adding: “We are open to all efforts which will help cease the fire, help de-escalate the tension.” Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Mauro Vieira, whose country chairs the rotating presidency of the Security Council, said that “Brazil will continue to work closely with all delegations aiming for a unified position by the Council on the situation.” China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East on Friday met with representatives of the Arab League in China for an emergency session on the crisis in Israel and Gaza, according to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry released on Saturday. China’s special envoy, Zhai Jun, told the meeting that China supports the 22-member strong Arab League in playing an important role on the “Palestinian issue” and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. “The international community should earnestly enhance its sense of urgency to return to the correct basis of the Two State Solution to realise the peaceful coexistence of the two states of Palestine and Israel,” Zhai said, according to the statement. Here is some more detail about the strikes reported earlier. The Israeli military says it intercepted two unidentified targets above the northern city of Haifa. “Following the initial report, another unidentified UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] crossed into northern Israel. Additionally, an IDF UAV was fired upon. In response, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist target in southern Lebanon,” Israel Defense Forces said on social media. A 25-year-old Thai man who is among 21 Thai citizens killed following Hamas’ attacks has been named as Pongsathorn Khunsri in local media. A report in the Bangkok Post says that Pongsathorn had been in Israel for a year, and was working on a farm. He moved so that he could earn more money and hoped to build a new house for his mother. He sent money back home regularly to his mother, hoping she could have a better life. About 30,000 Thais are living in Israel, including many who work in agricultural jobs that offer better salaries than those back home. An official from the Thai Embassy in Tel Aviv called his mother, Surangkhana, on Wednesday to inform her of his death. “I never imagined my son would die like this in a faraway land. Many Thais have worked there, but why did it happen to be my son who was captured and killed?” Surangkhana told the Bangkok Post. She told the paper that she did not have much detail about what had happened to her son. The Palestinian United Nations envoy appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to do more to stop a “crime against humanity” by Israel, which has warned nearly half of the population of the Gaza Strip to relocate as it plans an assault, according to a Reuters report. “He has to do more. Whatever was done is not sufficient. We need all of us to do more to stop this crime against humanity,” Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters before a meeting of Arab Group ambassadors at the United Nations. Countries urged Israel on Friday to hold off attacking northern Gaza, where more than a million civilians largely defied Israel’s order to evacuate before it goes after Hamas militants who slaughtered Israeli civilians last weekend. Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said on Friday that Israel’s warning to residents in northern Gaza was “to temporarily move south ... to mitigate civilian harm.” He was speaking at an event Israel hosted at the UN with families of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and taken to Gaza in the attack. Guterres briefed the 15-member UN Security Council behind closed doors on Friday. “The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low,” he told reporters on his way to the briefing, adding that he was in constant contact with the leaders across the region to try and “prevent further dangerous escalation in the West Bank or elsewhere in the region, especially in southern Lebanon.” Guterres reminded the parties: “Even wars have rules ... Civilians must be protected and also never used as shields.” Israel’s military said early on Saturday it had struck a Hezbollah target in southern Lebanon in response to the “infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel” and fire on an Israeli drone. The military intercepted the objects and the fire on its drone, it said, according to a Reuters report. Nearly 240 Australians have landed in London on the first Australian-government backed repatriation flight from Israel, the foreign minister has confirmed. Penny Wong said on Saturday that the Qantas-operated flight from Tel Aviv landed earlier on Saturday carrying 238 people. Overall, about 825 Australians had departed Israel and the occupied territories, she said. “My department continues to assist a number of Australians seeking to leave Gaza, numbering about 20,” Wong said. A second repatriation flight is due to leave on Saturday from Tel Aviv to Dubai. The government announced on Friday it would arrange an extra two charter flights, taking the total number to four. Tens of thousands of people in Gaza have fled south - UN Tens of thousands of people in Gaza are believed to have fled their homes and moved south following Israel’s evacuation warning, according to estimates by the UN humanitarian office OCHA. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were already internally displaced, it said. Israel’s military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion. Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes.