CAIRO: Heavy shelling in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Thursday disrupted efforts to deliver badly needed aid to trapped civilians, after yet another fragile and frequently violated truce ran out, residents said.
Sudan has plunged into chaos since fighting erupted in mid-April between the country’s two rival top generals. There is increasing concern for those trapped and displaced by the fighting, and aid workers and civilians have said there’s a dire lack of basic services, medical care, food and water.
In central areas of Khartoum, sporadic explosions could be heard Thursday, a day after the United Nations warned that the Sudanese people are “facing a humanitarian catastrophe,” and after the latest in a series of cease-fires expired earlier in the day.
“The situation is very dire,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, who leads a key doctors union. “All forms of shelling can still be heard in Khartoum, whether air or artillery shelling.”
Black plumes of smoke rising from downtown neighborhoods dotted Khartoum’s skyline at midday. The fighting also raised questions about the viability of internationally backed initiatives seeking to bring an end to the violence that upended the African country’s transition to democracy.
The conflict started on April 15, preceded by months of escalating tensions between the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting turned urban areas into battlefields and foreign governments rushed to evacuate their diplomats and thousands of foreign nationals out of Sudan.
Both sides have traded accusations of truce violations over the past weeks. On Thursday, each side claimed its forces were the subject of attacks. The military said late Wednesday it clashed with RSF forces around key government institutions in Khartoum, including the Republican Palace in the capital’s center.
Cease-fire initiatives by the United States, Saudi Arabia and the East African bloc known as IGAD have all floated a path toward longer negotiations. But the warring sides have shown little commitment to even short-term promises to stop the fighting.
The doctors’ group has in recent days warned that at least 60 percent, of hospitals located near areas of active fighting are out of service, either because they have been shelled or due to the shortage of medical personnel and supplies.
Among those in a critical, life-threatening situation are some 12,000 patients with kidney failure with no access to dialysis facilities. “People suffering from chronic diseases are dying at home because functioning hospitals are only attending to the wounded,” said Atiya, of the Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate.
The head of the UN children’s agency, Catherine Russell, said from Kenya on Thursday that “Sudan is teetering toward catastrophe” and warned that children are increasingly caught in the crossfire.
“While we are unable to confirm estimates due to the intensity of the violence, UNICEF has received reports that 190 children have been killed and another 1,700 injured in Sudan since conflict erupted almost three weeks ago,” she said.
“For the sake of Sudan’s children, the violence must stop,” Russell added.
Kuwait’s government announced Thursday that it will be dispatching flights carrying medical and humanitarian supplies to the city of Port Sudan, on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, the Gulf Arab country’s state-run news agency KUNA said. Sudan’s state news agency reported that the first Kuwaiti plane carrying medical supplies and food aid arrived on Thursday afternoon.
The flights are meant to deliver at least 75 tons of humanitarian assistance to the Sudanese heath authorities and the Sudanese Red Crescent.
However, the lawlessness brought on by the violence has also thwarted aid distribution across Sudan, with looting and attacks on aid and medical facilities posing major setbacks.
A coordinator for the UN’s refugee agency in the Darfur region, Toby Howard, said the organization’s facilities in the areas of Nyala, South Darfur, El Geneina and West Darfur had been looted.
Asked about who was doing the looting, Howard said it was common in the restive region even before the violence of the past two weeks.
“I would put it down to basically uncontrolled militias, bandits, criminals. Some of them are loosely affiliated with one of the two sides in the conflict,” he said during a virtual news conference Wednesday from Kenya, where he relocated after his evacuation from Darfur.
Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport, experienced relative calm amid chaos elsewhere in Sudan and became a hub for tens of thousands of people looking to flee the fighting — and has now become the entry point for an international effort to get aid supplies into the country.
The conflict has so far killed at least 550 people, including civilians, and wounded more than 4,900. The Sudanese Doctors’ Syndicate, which tracks only civilian casualties, said Thursday that 457 civilians have been killed in the violence, and more than 2,300 have been wounded.
At least 334,000 people have been displaced inside Sudan, and tens of thousands more to neighboring countries — Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia, according to UN agencies.
Thousands have funneled through crowded, desert crossing points between Egypt and Sudan in recent days, with many calling for aid groups to do more to provide the waiting crowds with basic assistance.
On Thursday, the World Health Organization said its workers were on the ground at the Egyptian-Sudanese border crossing of Arqin to help meet urgent medical needs for the first time since the influx of people started.
The UN refugee agency said that more than 50,000 people had crossed into Egypt alone, including 47,000 Sudanese and 3,500 third-country nationals, by Wednesday.
The US State Department said Thursday it has “successfully completed” the evacuation of more than 2,000 people from Sudan following the initial evacuation of US Embassy diplomats and staff.
Of all the evacuated, roughly 1,300 are American citizens, green card holders, Sudanese working for the embassy or nationals of US partners and allies, deputy department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
Shelling in Sudanese capital disrupts aid delivery efforts
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Shelling in Sudanese capital disrupts aid delivery efforts
- In central areas of Khartoum, sporadic explosions could be heard Thursday, a day after the United Nations warned that the Sudanese people are “facing a humanitarian catastrophe”
- “The situation is very dire,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya, who leads a key doctors union
Israel says Hamas committed two violations of Gaza ceasefire deal
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Sunday that Hamas had violated a ceasefire agreement, which came into effect one week ago and has so far resulted in the release of seven hostages and dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
“During the execution of the second phase of the swap yesterday, Hamas committed two violations. Arbel Yehud, a civilian hostage who was scheduled for release on Saturday, has not been freed, and the detailed list of all hostages’ statuses has not been provided,” said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Israeli fire kills 2, wounds 32, on deadline for Lebanon withdrawal
- Israel was all but certain to miss Sunday’s deadline, which is part of a ceasefire agreement that ended its war with Hezbollah
- The Lebanese army said it was ‘ready to continue its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws’
KFAR KILA, Lebanon: Israeli troops fired at residents of south Lebanon on Sunday, killing two and wounding 32, health officials said, as hundreds of people tried to return to their homes on the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area.
Israel was all but certain to miss Sunday’s deadline, which is part of a ceasefire agreement that ended its war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group two months ago.
The deal that took effect on November 27 said the Lebanese army was to deploy alongside United Nations peacekeepers in the south as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period.
That period ends on Sunday.
Lebanon’s health ministry said Israeli forces had opened fire in at least two border towns on “citizens who were trying to return to their villages,” killing two and wounding 32.
The ministry had previously said the “aggression” had centered on the two villages of Houla and Kfar Kila.
Earlier, Lebanon’s official National News Agency had reported that Israeli fire wounded several people in Kfar Kila “who crossed the barrier and checkpoint put in place by the occupation army,” referring to Israel.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a message earlier on Sunday to residents of more than 60 villages in southern Lebanon, including Kfar Kila and Houla, telling them not to return.
AFP journalists said convoys of vehicles carrying hundreds of people were trying to return to several villages despite the military’s continued presence.
AFPTV live images from Kfar Kila showed crowds gathered, some with yellow Hezbollah flags, near Lebanese security vehicles that blocked a road near a petrol station.
Beyond them sat another military vehicle on an empty stretch of the road.
On Saturday, the Lebanese army said a delay in implementing the agreement was the “result of the procrastination in the withdrawal from the Israeli enemy’s side.”
Israeli forces have left coastal areas of southern Lebanon, but are still present in areas further east.
The ceasefire deal stipulates that Hezbollah pull back its forces north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Friday that “the ceasefire agreement has not yet been fully enforced by the Lebanese state,” so the military’s withdrawal would continue beyond the Sunday deadline.
“The withdrawal process is conditional upon the Lebanese army deploying in southern Lebanon and fully and effectively enforcing the agreement, with Hezbollah withdrawing beyond the Litani River,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
It added that “the gradual withdrawal process will continue in full coordination with the United States,” a key ally and one of the monitors of the ceasefire.
The Lebanese army said it was “ready to continue its deployment as soon as the Israeli enemy withdraws.”
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayad said on Saturday that Israel’s “excuses” were a pretext to “pursue a scorched earth policy” in border areas that would make the return of displaced residents impossible.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, who took office earlier this month, spoke on Saturday with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, whose government is also involved in overseeing the truce.
According to a statement from his office, Aoun spoke of the “need to oblige Israel to respect the terms of the deal in order to maintain stability in the south.”
Aoun also said Israel must “end its successive violations, including the destruction of border villages... which would prevent the return of residents.”
Macron’s office, in its summary of the conversation, said the French president had called on all parties to the ceasefire to honor their commitments as soon as possible.
On January 17, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for Israel to end its military operations and “occupation” in the south.
The fragile ceasefire has generally held, even as the warring sides have repeatedly traded accusations of violating it.
The Israeli military has continued to carry out frequent strikes that it says targeted Hezbollah fighters, and Lebanese state media has reported that Israeli forces were carrying out demolitions in villages they control.
The November 27 deal ended two months of full-scale war that had followed months of low-intensity exchanges.
Hezbollah began trading cross-border fire with the Israeli army the day after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by its Palestinian ally Hamas, which triggered the war in Gaza.
Israel intensified its campaign against Hezbollah in September, launching a series of devastating blows against the group’s leadership and killing its longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah warned on Thursday that “any violation of the 60-day deadline will be considered a flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement and “an infringement on Lebanese sovereignty.”
The group refrained from any threat to resume attacks on Israel but said the Lebanese state should use “all means necessary... to restore the land and wrest it from the clutches of the occupation.”
WHO chief urges end to attacks on Sudan health care after 70 killed in drone strike
- WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: ‘We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan’
The head of the World Health Organization called on Saturday for an end to attacks on health care workers and facilities in Sudan after a drone attack on a hospital in Sudan’s North Darfur region killed more than 70 people and wounded dozens.
“As the only functional hospital in El Fasher, the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital provides services which include gyn-obstetrics, internal medicine, surgery and pediatrics, along with a nutrition stabilization center,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X after the Friday strike.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” Tedros said.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces, has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The conflict has produced waves of ethnically driven violence blamed largely on the RSF, creating a humanitarian crisis.
Darfur Governor Mini Minnawi said on X that an RSF drone had struck the emergency department of the hospital in the capital of North Darfur, killing patients, including women and children.
Fierce clashes have erupted in El Fasher between the RSF and the Sudanese joint forces, including the army, armed resistance groups, police, and local defense units.
Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says
- UN says out of 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far, roughly a third or 13,319 were children
- Nearly 19,000 children were hospitalized for acute malnutrition in four months before December 2025
UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.
The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.
Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”
Devastating toll for Gaza’s children: Over 13,000 killed and an estimated 25,000 injured, UN says
- The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war
UNITED NATIONS: The war in Gaza has been devastating for children: More than 13,000 have been killed, an estimated 25,000 injured, and at least 25,000 hospitalized for malnutrition, according to UN agencies.
As Britain’s deputy UN ambassador, James Kariuki, recently told the Security Council, “Gaza has become the deadliest place in the world to be a child.”
“The children of Gaza did not choose this war,” he said, “yet they have paid the ultimate price.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported Thursday that of the 40,717 Palestinian bodies identified so far in Gaza, one-third – 13,319 – were children. The office said Friday the figures came from Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The UN children’s agency, UNICEF, said the estimate of 25,000 children injured came from its analysis based on information collected together with Gaza’s Health Ministry.
UN deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said nearly 19,000 children had been hospitalized for acute malnutrition in the four months before December.
That figure also came from UNICEF, which said it was from data collected by UN staff in Gaza focusing on nutrition, in coordination with all pertinent UN agencies.
The UN says thousands of children have also been orphaned or separated from their parents during the 15-month war.
Yasmine Sherif, executive director of the UN global fund Education Cannot Wait, told a press conference that 650,000 school-age children haven’t been attending classes and the entire education system has to be rebuilt because of the widespread destruction in Gaza.
Diplomats from Britain, France and other countries also cited the toll on Israeli children who were killed, injured and abducted during Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – with some still being held hostage.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon asked the Security Council whether it ever paused to consider the plight of Israeli children “mutilated, tortured and murdered” on Oct. 7, the 30 who were kidnapped and the tens of thousands who have been displaced, their homes destroyed.
“The trauma they have endured is beyond imagination,” he said.
Danon called Thursday’s council meeting on children in Gaza “an affront to common sense,” accusing Hamas of turning Gaza into “the world’s largest terror base” and using children as human shields.
“The children of Gaza could have had a future filled with opportunity,” he said. “Instead, they are trapped in a cycle of violence and despair, all because of Hamas, not because of Israel.”
