TUNIS/THESSALONIKI: The Tunisian navy rescued 98 Tunisians fleeing to Europe when their boat started to sink off Kerkenah on the southeast coast late on Saturday, the national guard said.
Separately, the army said it had arrested 43 illegal migrants rescued from four boats off Zarzis, also on the southeast coast.
Tunisia has been praised for its democratic progress after a 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali but successive governments have failed to create jobs for young people, some of whom head illegally to Europe to seek work.
Tunisia arrested about 550 Tunisian and African migrants trying to sail to Europe in September, against only 170 in August, official data showed on Thursday.
Human traffickers increasingly use Tunisia as a launch pad for migrants heading for Europe as Libya's coast guard, aided by armed groups, has tightened controls.
"The water leaked to a boat carrying 98 migrants, when it was sinking, but the naval guard rescued them off the coast of Kerkenah," Col. Maj. Khelifa Chibani of Tunisia's national guard said.
Migrants’ smugglers held
Greek police said they have arrested eight migrant traffickers who reportedly smuggled 38 migrants through Greece's land border with Turkey.
All the arrests were made Friday, in northern Greece, in four separate incidents.
The largest group of migrants — 10 from Vietnam, two from Iraq and two from Pakistan — was smuggled by two Moldovans and a Romanian. The migrants were stashed in one car while two other traffickers drove another vehicle, checking for police roadblocks, police say.
Ten Syrians and Somalis smuggled in by a Bulgarian driver told police they paid €2,400 ($2,836) each to be taken into central Europe. Another seven Iraqis, five Afghanis and two Pakistanis were also smuggled in by traffickers.
Similar incidents occur almost daily, police say.
Tunisia rescues 140 migrants off its coast
Tunisia rescues 140 migrants off its coast
New backlash over Trump plan to move people out of Gaza
- “We emphasize that Jordan’s national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever,” Jordanian’s spokesman Mohammad Momani said
- Israel has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable
JERUSALEM: An idea floated by US President Donald Trump to move Gazans to Egypt or Jordan faced a renewed backlash Tuesday as hundreds of thousands of Gazans displaced by the Israel-Hamas war returned to their devastated neighborhoods.
A fragile ceasefire and hostage release deal took effect earlier this month, intended to end more than 15 months of war that began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
After the ceasefire came into force, Trump touted a plan to “clean out” the Gaza Strip, reiterating the idea on Monday as he called for Palestinians to move to “safer” locations such as Egypt or Jordan.
The US president, who has repeatedly claimed credit for sealing the truce deal after months of fruitless negotiations, also said he would meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington “very soon.”
Jordan, which has a tumultuous history with Palestinian movements, on Tuesday renewed its rejection of Trump’s proposal.
“We emphasize that Jordan’s national security dictates that the Palestinians must remain on their land and that the Palestinian people must not be subjected to any kind of forced displacement whatsoever,” Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad Momani said.
Qatar, which played a leading role in the truce mediation, on Tuesday said that it often did not see “eye to eye” with its allies, including the United States.
“Our position has always been clear to the necessity of the Palestinian people receiving their rights, and that the two-state solution is the only path forward,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.
Following reports that Trump had spoken with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at the weekend, Cairo said there had been no such phone call.
“A senior official source denied what some media outlets reported about a phone call between the Egyptian and American presidents,” Egypt’s state information service said.
On Monday, Trump reportedly said the pair had spoken, saying of El-Sisi: “I wish he would take some (Palestinians).”
After Trump first floated the idea, Egypt rejected the forced displacement of Gazans, expressing its “continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land.”
France, another US ally, on Tuesday said any forced displacement of Gazans would be “unacceptable.”
It would also be a “destabilization factor (for) our close allies Egypt and Jordan,” a French foreign ministry spokesman said.
Moving Gaza’s 2.4 million people could be done “temporarily or could be long term,” Trump said on Saturday.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he was working with the prime minister “to prepare an operational plan to ensure that President Trump’s vision is realized.”
Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire deal, did not provide any details on the purported plan.
For Palestinians, any attempts to force them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba,” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
“We say to Trump and the whole world: we will not leave Palestine or Gaza, no matter what happens,” said displaced Gazan Rashad Al-Naji.
Almost all of the Gaza Strip’s inhabitants were displaced at least once by the war that has levelled much of the Palestinian territory.
The ceasefire hinges on the release during a first phase of 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for around 1,900 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
On Monday, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said eight of the hostages due for release in the first phase are dead.
Since the truce began on January 19, seven Israeli women have been freed, as have about 290 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
On Monday, after Hamas and Israel agreed over the release of six hostages this week, “more than 300,000 displaced” Gazans were able to return to the north, according to the Hamas government media office.
“I’m happy to be back at my home,” said Saif Al-Din Qazaat, who returned to northern Gaza but had to sleep in a tent next to the ruins of his destroyed house.
“I kept a fire burning all night near the kids to keep them warm... (they) slept peacefully despite the cold, but we don’t have enough blankets,” the 41-year-old told AFP.
Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
During the attack, militants took into Gaza 251 hostages. Eighty-seven remain in the territory, including dozens Israel says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 47,317 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
“In terms of the death toll, yes, we do have confidence. But let’s not forget, the official death toll given by the Ministry of Health, is deaths accounted in morgues and in hospitals, so in official facilities,” World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday.
“As people go back to their houses, as they will start looking for their loved ones under the rubble, this casualty figure is expected to increase,” he added.
More than 376,000 return to north Gaza since Monday: UN
- OCHA: Over 376,000 people are estimated to have returned to their places of origin in northern Gaza
- “This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh
UNITED NATIONS: More than 376,000 Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas have returned to northern Gaza, the UN’s humanitarian body OCHA said Tuesday.
“Over 376,000 people are estimated to have returned to their places of origin in northern Gaza, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the two main roads along the Netzarim corridor” that leads into the north, OCHA said in a humanitarian update.
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Many Palestinians said they were happy to return, even though their homes in northern Gaza are likely damaged or destroyed. Others said the feeling was bittersweet, as nearly everyone has friends or relatives killed by Israel during the 15-month war against Hamas.
“This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh.
The ceasefire is aimed at ending the war and releasing dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.
Paramilitary attacks displace thousands in North Darfur
PORT SUDAN: Thousands of families fled their homes in Sudan’s North Darfur state over two days, the UN’s migration agency said on Tuesday, amid intensified attacks by paramilitary forces.
“Between 25 and 27 January 2025, an estimated 3,960 households were displaced from various villages across El-Fasher locality,” the International Organization for Migration said.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — at war with the army since April 2023 — have captured every state capital in the vast western region of Darfur except for North Darfur capital El-Fasher, which they have besieged since May.
In its latest attempt to capture the city, the RSF last week issued an ultimatum demanding that army forces and their allies leave the city.
The IOM said the displacement occurred due to RSF attacks, which included reported incidents of “looting and burning of personal property.”
Army and allied forces have repeatedly repelled attacks by the paramilitary forces, who local activists said launched intense artillery shelling on residential neighborhoods in the city.
On Friday, a drone attack on the city’s only functioning hospital, which local monitors blamed on the RSF, killed 70 people, drawing condemnation from the UN.
Nearly 1.7 million people are displaced in North Darfur state alone, according to the UN, with an estimated two million experiencing extreme food insecurity and 320,000 in famine.
In the area around El-Fasher, famine has already taken hold in three displacement camps — Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam — and is expected to expand to five more areas including the city itself by May, according to a UN-backed assessment.
Protests in Libya disrupt oil loadings at 2 ports
BENGHAZI: Local protesters blocked crude oil loadings at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports in Libya on Tuesday, five engineers said, putting about 450,000 barrels per day of exports at risk.
Laer, Libya’s National Oil Corporation said operations at all oil terminals were continuing normally after communication with protesters.
In a statement to the NOC dated Jan. 5, the protesters demanded the relocation of several oil company headquarters to the Oil Crescent region, calling for fair development of their coastal area to improve living conditions.
Ports in Libya’s hydrocarbon-rich Oil Crescent include Es Sider, Brega, Zueitina and Ras Lanuf, accounting for about half of the total exports from the country, while several oil companies are based in the capital Tripoli.
“All we want is equality,” one of the protesters Houssam El Khodor said. “The oil is produced in our regions and all we get from it is the toxic fumes.”
The disruption came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, of which Libya is a member, is due to discuss its policy of gradually increasing oil output after US President Donald Trump’s calls for OPEC to lower oil prices.
NOC said on its official X account that its crude production had reached more than 1.4 million bpd, about 200,000 bpd short of its pre-civil war high. It was not immediately clear if the blockade had affected production so far.
A loading program showed that Es Sider was on track to export about 340,000 bpd of crude in January, with another 110,000 bpd slated to ship from Ras Lanuf.
How conflict created the conditions for Sudan’s deadly cholera crisis
- War has displaced 12 million people, forcing many into overcrowded camps with poor sanitation and unsafe water
- Sudan has reported more than 50,000 cholera cases and 1,300 deaths since August 2024, with the true toll likely far higher
LONDON: From displacement camps in Gedaref to overwhelmed hospitals in Al-Jazirah, Sudan’s ongoing cholera epidemic, exacerbated by its brutal civil war, has created a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions.
Since the cholera outbreak was declared in August 2024, Sudan has recorded at least 50,000 cases and some 1,300 deaths. These numbers are likely an underestimate, however, due to challenges in accessing remote areas and gathering accurate data.
Mohamed Ahmed, the operational deputy head of mission for Medecins Sans Frontieres in Sudan, whose team has been working on the cholera response, described the realities on the ground, the fatigue audible in his voice.
“It’s exhausting,” he told Arab News, shortly after returning from Gedaref, where a 117 percent increase in cholera cases was recorded between October and November 2024, and where a fresh wave of displacement threatens further outbreaks.
“It’s exhausting because you have to deal with this every single day. It is exhausting to beg to reach the populations that are in need, to speak about it, to advocate for these populations that are in need.”
Cholera’s resurgence in Sudan is far from an isolated event. Historically, the country’s rainy seasons have fueled similar outbreaks, but this latest crisis has been exacerbated by unprecedented levels of displacement and a collapsing healthcare system.
The cholera epidemic currently ravaging Sudan is a grim testament to the devastating impact of protracted conflict on public health. “It is at a scale that we don’t see in many other conflict settings,” said Ahmed.
“The whole of the humanitarian response system in Sudan today is struggling. We are speaking about a magnitude of a crisis that we have not seen in other parts of the world, even including Gaza.”
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict for almost two years, severely limiting access to clean water, sanitation, and medical care. The nation’s healthcare system was fragile even before the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023.
The war has decimated medical infrastructure, leaving health workers unpaid for months and facilities devoid of essential supplies. “The healthcare facilities are near collapse,” said Ahmed. “Seventy to 80 percent of health facilities are non-functional.”
The outbreak’s epicenter includes the states of Al-Jazirah, Gedaref, and Kassala — areas already grappling with repeated waves of displacement.
“The ongoing conflict has displaced 12 million people,” said Ahmed. “In Gedaref, where I came from just now, we have 1 million internally displaced persons, straining an already broken system.”
These displaced populations often find refuge in overcrowded schools, bus stations, and abandoned government buildings, where basic sanitation is virtually non-existent.
“In one bus station in Gedaref, we had 17,000 families staying in a makeshift area that is really in a very bad state,” said Ahmed. “There’s a lack of latrines, so people are defecating outside, with a lack of safe drinking water.
“Cholera is largely spread from hand to mouth, so you come in with no food, no water to drink, and the situations they are in, staying in open buildings, crowded gathering sites that absolutely then propagate these kinds of epidemic diseases including cholera.
“And it is not only cholera that is spreading in these conditions. There are many preventable diseases. We are speaking about measles, we are speaking about other vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Christian Lindmeier, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization, highlighted the outbreak’s geographical spread.
“Fueled by heavy rains and flooding, destruction of health facilities, overcrowding and lack of access to clean water in displacement sites and within communities, this new wave of cholera quickly spread to 84 localities in 11 states, with over 51,203 cases and 1,356 deaths reported as of Jan. 13, 2025,” Lindmeier told Arab News.
“The cholera outbreak is occurring at a time when Sudan’s health system is severely weakened by the conflict that has been raging in Sudan for 21 months, causing severe access constraints and security risks where neither health workers nor patients can safely access health facilities or emergency health response can reach the people in need.”
Humanitarian organizations, including the MSF, the WHO, and the UN children’s fund UNICEF, have scrambled to respond to the crisis despite severe logistical and security challenges.
The MSF has established cholera treatment centers and oral rehydration points in hotspots such as Gedaref, which have saved the lives of countless people who would otherwise have quickly succumbed to dehydration.
Eva Hinds, a spokesperson for UNICEF based in Port Sudan, underscored the difficulties faced by aid agencies operating in this complex environment.
“The ongoing conflict makes transporting vaccines and health supplies throughout the country challenging and often tremendously time consuming as permit approvals, checkpoints and consignment inspections can delay the journeys by days or even weeks,” she told Arab News.
“Traveling across this sizable country, particularly during the rainy season, can also be taxing as roads get flooded and infrastructure gets washed away.”
Despite these obstacles, UNICEF has spearheaded vaccination campaigns, reaching 7.4 million people in eight states between August 2024 and January 2025.
However, Hinds warned: “There are limits to what assistance can achieve without meaningful peace and security for both humanitarian workers and the children they serve.”
Bureaucratic red tape and active conflict zones delay the movement of life-saving supplies and medical personnel. Ahmed recounted one particularly harrowing situation in Khartoum state, where clashes between the SAF and RSF have been particularly fierce.
“We had a really quite emotional situation with one of the sites, a hospital that we were supporting but did not have teams on the ground, and we have not been able to send in supplies,” he said.
“We had supplies in our warehouse that we wanted to send but were not able to because it is an intense conflict zone. And of course we have bureaucracies along the way. And in a single day we lost 30 patients.
“The frustrations within my team in not being able to go and not being able to respond or even responding from a distance because the security and the access doesn’t allow us to be there was really super difficult.”
INNUMBERS
• 12m People internally and externally displaced by conflict.
• 70-80% Sudanese health facilities knocked out of action.
Sudan’s health workers have not been spared amid the violence, forced to work in impossible circumstances, with health facilities regularly coming under attack.
“Since the start of the conflict on April 15, 2023, 141 attacks on health (facilities) have been verified causing 240 deaths and 216 among health workers, patients and patient caretakers,” said the WHO’s Lindmeier.
On Jan. 25, around 70 people were killed in a drone attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital in the besieged city of Al-Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur state.
The assault has been attributed by local officials to the RSF, which is yet to acknowledge responsibility.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry has condemned the attack, calling it “a violation of international law.”
Lindmeier called on all parties to respect the sanctity of healthcare and allow safe access to aid workers. “The WHO calls for cessation of hostilities by all parties in Sudan,” he said.
“Peace is overdue for Sudan. Without peace, lives, livelihoods, health and other social service systems will continue to be severely disrupted in the face of the rapidly deteriorating situation with transgenerational effects on the nation.
“We appeal for increased funding from the international community to enable us to support the provision of urgent lifesaving healthcare and outbreak response as we support and rebuild Sudan’s health system, which has been devastated by the conflict.”
The toll on Sudan’s displaced populations has been severe. Children, in particular, bear the brunt of the crisis, accounting for more than 70 percent of cholera cases. Older adults, especially those over 70, have the highest mortality rates.
“It’s the image of all the children that we see in these treatment centers as well — malnutrition, cholera — that keeps on hanging on our minds,” said Ahmed, his voice breaking. “And every time we speak to people about this crisis, we see these images.”
The current Case Fatality Rate of 2.6 percent far exceeds the WHO’s recommended threshold of 1 percent, underscoring the dire need for intervention.
Although aid agencies are confident the outbreak can be brought under control, international support remains critical to addressing Sudan’s wider humanitarian crisis. Ahmed highlighted the need for sustained funding and access.
“We are approaching very challenging times, especially for the humanitarian community in 2025, with the magnitude of what we are seeing and as well the changes that we see in global dynamics,” he said.
“Donors must honor their promises and prioritize Sudan. We cannot turn a blind eye.”
