JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that two soldiers were killed in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Major Moshiko Maxim Rozenwald, 35, a reservist and combat engineer, and another unnamed soldier were killed in an “incident,” the military said in a statement without providing further details.
According to Israeli military radio, the two soldiers were killed when an old building collapsed.
The building was not struck by enemy fire but was in a fragile condition before its collapse, military radio reported.
According to the military, the deaths bring to 386 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza military campaign since the start of the ground offensive on October 27, 2023.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s surprise October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that includes hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 45,059 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
Israeli military says two soldiers killed in Gaza
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Israeli military says two soldiers killed in Gaza
- According to Israeli military radio, the two soldiers were killed when an old building collapsed
Sudan marks two years of war
- Officials from around the world are meeting in London to ‘agree a pathway to end the suffering in Sudan’
KHARTOUM: Sudan on Tuesday marked two years of a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis — with no sign of peace.
Fighting erupted on April 15, 2023 between the regular army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Khartoum quickly became a battleground. Bodies lined the streets. Hundreds of thousands fled. Those left behind struggled to survive.
“I’ve lost half my bodyweight,” said 52-year-old Abdel Rafi Hussein, who stayed in the capital under RSF control until the army retook it last month.
“We’re safe (now), but still, we suffer from a lack of water and electricity and most hospitals aren’t working.”
The army’s recapture of Khartoum marked a turnaround after more than a year of setbacks.
Many civilians celebrated what they called the “liberation” of the capital from the RSF, whose fighters were accused of widespread looting and sexual violence.
But now the RSF is seeking to cement its grip on the vast western region of Darfur, where it has launched a deadly assault on El-Fasher — the last major city in the region outside its control.
More than 400 people have been killed in the offensive, the United Nations said, with the paramilitaries having claimed control of the nearby Zamzam displacement camp on Sunday.
An estimated 400,000 civilians fled the famine-hit camp as the RSF advanced, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The army said on Tuesday that it had carried out “successful air strikes” against RSF positions northeast of the city.
In total, the conflict has displaced some 13 million people, 3.8 million of them abroad, according to UN figures.
In London on Tuesday, officials from around the world were meeting to “agree a pathway to end the suffering” in Sudan, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.
But neither of the warring parties attended the meeting, where the African Union and European countries called for an end to the war.
“We have got to persuade the warring parties to protect civilians, to let aid in and across the country, and to put peace first,” he said, adding that the international community “simply cannot look away.”
UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said Sudan had faced “indifference from the outside world.”
“The Sudanese are besieged on all sides — war, widespread abuses, indignity, hunger and other hardships,” he said, warning that “continuing to look away will have catastrophic consequences.”
Precise death tolls are not available because of the collapse of the health care system, but former US envoy Tom Perriello cited estimates last year of up to 150,000 dead.
Both sides have been accused of targeting civilians, shelling homes and blocking aid.
Some 25 million people face acute food insecurity, and eight million are on the brink of famine in what the UN has called the world’s largest hunger crisis.
On Tuesday, the world body said 2.1 million people are expected to return to Khartoum over the next six months following the army’s recapture.
In central Sudan — where the UN said nearly 400,000 people had returned to areas retaken by the army by March — many have come back to ruins, preferring destitution at home to displacement.
Wad Madani, just south of Khartoum, has had “no electricity for a year and a half,” 63-year-old Mohamed Al-Amin told AFP, adding that only some water treatment facilities have been restored sice the army retook the city in January.
Zainab Abdel Rahim, 38, returned to Khartoum North this month with her six children, to find their home looted beyond recognition.
“We’re trying to pull together the essentials, but there’s no water, no electricity, no medicine,” she said.
According to Catherine Russell, executive director of the UN’s children’s agency, the war has “shattered the lives of millions of children across Sudan.”
UNICEF figures show 2,776 children were killed or maimed in 2023 and 2024 — up from 150 in 2022 — and the real toll is likely higher.
The Zamzam camp, which had been sheltering up to a million people, was the first place in Sudan where famine was declared.
Other nearby camps have followed and famine is expected to take hold in El-Fasher itself by next month.
On Monday, Guterres called for an end to “the external support and flow of weapons” fueling the war.
“Those with greatest influence on the parties must use it to better the lives of people in Sudan — not to perpetuate this disaster,” he said, without naming any countries.
Body of slain Syrian refugee boy in UK to be repatriated after fundraiser
- Ahmad Mamdouh Al-Ibrahim, 16, was stabbed to death in Huddersfield on April 3
- More than £15k raised by local community to support his family
LONDON: The body of a 16-year-old Syrian refugee who was stabbed to death in the UK is being repatriated to his homeland following a local community fundraiser, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
Locals in Huddersfield raised more than £15,000 ($19,800) after the killing of Ahmad Mamdouh Al-Ibrahim, whose family described him as “a very nice boy” who wanted to be a doctor.
He was stabbed in the neck on April 3 as he was being shown around the town center by his cousin.
Al-Ibrahim had only arrived in Huddersfield two weeks earlier after spending time at a Welsh immigration center and staying with his uncle’s family during Ramadan.
Funeral prayers were held at Omar Mosque in Huddersfield last Friday, with about 500 people attending.
Alfie Franco, 20, appeared in court two days after the killing. He was charged with murder and remanded in custody until a hearing in May.
The local fundraiser for Al-Ibrahim’s repatriation was organized by Maneer Siddique, who said he was “absolutely overwhelmed” by the response from the people of Huddersfield.
He had initially hoped to raise about £2,000, but the GoFundMe page has surpassed £15,000 and continues to climb.
“To generate that kind of money in such a short space of time is unreal,” said Siddique, who runs a tailoring business.
One benefactor delivered an envelope to be passed on to Al-Ibrahim’s uncle. “He started counting the money and there was £500 in the envelope. He was in tears,” Siddique said.
“He really wants to thank everyone. And I would like to also thank people personally because of the amount of money we’ve generated through people’s kindness.”
Al-Ibrahim’s body, accompanied by two relatives, will be taken to Damascus Tuesday evening.
They will then travel to extended family in Homs, where a second funeral will be held this week for Al-Ibrahim’s burial.
He had been injured by bomb shrapnel during the Syrian civil war, which he was fleeing when he came to Britain.
His uncle said Al-Ibrahim only knew family in Huddersfield, adding: “He was trying to make a friend, because he didn’t have friends here. I said to him, you have to go out into the town center to know (where everything is), to know where you can go shopping … plus, you’re going to make friends.”
Numerous cards were left at the site of Al-Ibrahim’s killing. Some contained messages addressed to “the lad I don’t know,” and were signed by “a stranger” and the “heartbroken Huddersfield people.”
US condemns continued tenure of UN’s Francesca Albanese, claiming antisemitism, bias
- In her most recent report, Albanese accused Israel of pursuing ‘long-term strategy’ of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and West Bank
- Supporters, including prominent Jewish figures, say Albanese is a ‘true champion of human rights’ who is “free of prejudice against any ethnicity, including Jewish people’
- All of Albanese’s predecessors have been vilified by pro-Israel groups and banned from entering Israel to fulfill their mandate
NEW YORK CITY: The US has strongly denounced the continued tenure of Francesca Albanese as the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, citing what it describes as antisemitic rhetoric and bias against Israel.
In a statement issued by the US Mission to the UN, Washington reiterated its longstanding opposition to Albanese’s role, saying her actions “make clear the United Nations tolerates antisemitic hatred, bias against Israel, and the legitimization of terrorism.”
Albanese’s outspokenness against Israeli policies and what the International Court of Justice has ruled as potential genocidal actions in Gaza has marked what many called “an extraordinary period in UN history and even for human rights struggle in world history.”
But the US described Albanese’s record as emblematic of the broader failings of the UN Human Rights Council, whose support for Albanese “offers yet another example of why President Trump ordered the United States to cease all participation in the HRC.”
Albanese, an Italian academic appointed to the mandate in 2022, will remain in the role until April 2028, completing the six-year maximum term for special rapporteurs. The position is unpaid.
The UNHRC said that no formal reappointment was made during its recent 58th session earlier this month, adding that her tenure is proceeding as originally scheduled.
Albanese’s continued role has drawn sharp criticism from pro-Israel organizations and the Israeli government.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, condemned what he described as the council’s de facto renewal of her mandate, calling it “a disgrace and a moral stain on the United Nations.”
He accused Albanese of promoting antisemitic views and excusing Hamas’ actions during the Oct. 7 attacks.
Pro-Israel advocacy groups had petitioned the council to remove Albanese, citing her statements and reports as evidence of partiality.
Critics point to her March 2025 report, in which Albanese accused Israel of pursuing a “long-term strategy” of ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.
However, pro-Palestinian figures, including prominent Jewish historians, lawyers, and human rights advocates, have rallied in support of Albanese, with many praising her continued role as “a small, but defiant, victory for Gaza, truth, and human rights.”
Albanese, who is also affiliated with Georgetown University and a former UNRWA staffer, has faced mounting scrutiny since the outbreak of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023.
Similar attacks, although less ferocious, have been directed at each of the three special rapporteurs that preceded Albanese. One of the three, Richard Falk, described the claims against Albanese as “a totally defamatory smear that has been repeated by Israeli media and lobbying organizations around the world.”
Falk described Albanese as “a person of the highest moral character, a true champion of human rights, and someone who is entirely free from prejudice against any ethnicity, including, of course, the Jewish people.”
He added that at the same time, Albanese is “an unsparing critic of Israel as a state guilty of settler colonial policies and practices that have made the Palestinian people suffer extreme harm and hardships since 1948.”
Her defenders believe the backlash is part of a political campaign to silence criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
The UNHRC has not signaled any move to alter Albanese’s mandate before its scheduled end in 2028.
Hamas says ‘lost contact’ with group holding Israeli-American hostage after strike
- The Brigades released a video on Saturday showing Alexander alive, in which he criticized the Israeli government for failing to secure his release
GAZA CITY: Hamas’s armed wing said Tuesday it had “lost contact” with the group holding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander following an air strike on their location in Gaza.
“We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location. We are still trying to reach them at this moment,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said on his Telegram channel.
The Brigades released a video on Saturday showing Alexander alive, in which he criticized the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.
Alexander appeared to be speaking under duress in the video, making frequent hand gestures as he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
AFP was unable to determine when the video was filmed.
Alexander was serving as a soldier in an elite infantry unit on the Gaza border when he was abducted by Palestinian militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The soldier, who turned 21 in captivity, was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in the US state of New Jersey, returning to Israel after high school to join the army.
Out of the 251 hostages taken on October 7, 58 remain in captivity, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Nearly a month after Israel resumed its aerial and ground assaults across Gaza, the Palestinian militant group said on Monday it had received a new ceasefire proposal from Israel.
A senior Hamas official told AFP that Israel had proposed a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages.
The Hamas official said that the Israeli proposal calls for the release of Alexander on the first day of the ceasefire as a “gesture of goodwill.”
Over 2m displaced people to return to Khartoum over six months: UN
- “Our estimate in IOM is that over the next six months, we will have 2.1 million returning to the Khartoum capital,” Mohamed Refaat, its chief of mission in Sudan, said
- The returns, he said, would depend on “the security situation and... the availability of services on the ground“
GENEVA: The United Nations said Tuesday that it expected more than two million people displaced in war-ravaged Sudan to return to Khartoum within the next six months, if security conditions allow.
Fighting erupted in Sudan on April 15, 2023 between the army, led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, headed by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
As the world marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted around 13 million, the UN’s International Organization for Migration noted the need to prepare for many of the displaced to begin returning home to Khartoum.
The capital city became a battleground almost from the start, but since the army recaptured it last month, the agency said “we are seeing people returning, we are seeing hope coming.”
“Our estimate in IOM is that over the next six months, we will have 2.1 million returning to the Khartoum capital,” Mohamed Refaat, its chief of mission in Sudan, told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Port Sudan.
This calculation, he said, was “based on the numbers we understand that... left the capital when the war started.”
“So we estimate that 31 percent of... IDPs (internally displaced people) in Sudan after the war are actually coming from Khartoum,” he said, adding that the agency expected around half of them to “be returning back to Khartoum.”
The returns, he said, would depend on “the security situation and... the availability of services on the ground.”
Getting the city ready for a mass influx will be a challenge, Refaat acknowledged.
“We see that some spots in the Khartoum itself have been cleaned, but the process I’m sure will take longer,” he said, adding that “the electricity system in the whole Khartoum has been destroyed.”
Refaat also warned that “as we see people are returning, the war is far from stopped,” with thousands still being displaced elsewhere in the country, especially in the Darfur region.
“The conflict has to stop, and we need to put all effort for this conflict to stop,” he said.
But Refaat acknowledged that the funds raised to address Sudan’s towering needs were far from sufficient.
The IOM unveiled a response plan Tuesday asking for nearly $29 million to reach around half a million people in Khartoum, including returnees, he said.
