PORT SUDAN: Shelling by Sudanese paramilitaries killed five people outside one of the last medical facilities still operating in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman on Tuesday, a medical source told AFP.
Requesting anonymity for safety reasons, the source said volunteers at Al-Nao Hospital were among the dead in the bombardment by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the regular army since April 2023.
“The shells landed in the garden adjacent to the hospital,” the source said.
Al-Nao Hospital, which is supported by medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF), lies in an area controlled by the Sudanese army and has been repeatedly attacked since the start of the war.
Greater Khartoum has been one of the main battlegrounds of the struggle for power between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy. RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 12 million.
Both sides have been accused of indiscriminately shelling health facilities and residential areas.
Gains by the army in Khartoum in recent weeks prompted the RSF to announce a counteroffensive last week.
On Saturday, at least 60 people were killed in an RSF bombardment that hit a busy market in Omdurman.
The RSF holds much of western and southern Sudan while the army retains control of the east and north.
Paramilitary shelling kills five at Sudan hospital: medical source
https://arab.news/j626g
Paramilitary shelling kills five at Sudan hospital: medical source
- The source said volunteers at Al-Nao Hospital were among the dead in the bombardment by the paramilitary RSF
- “The shells landed in the garden adjacent to the hospital“
Turkiye says it remains committed to contested ‘Kanal Istanbul’ project
President Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of the canal in 2021, aiming to connect the Black Sea north of Istanbul to the Marmara Sea to the south and prevent accidents in the Bosphorus.
The initiative, described by Erdogan as his “crazy project” when he revealed it more than a decade ago, was estimated to cost some 75 billion lira ($1.95 billion).
Critics have questioned the viability of a waterway running 45 km (28 miles) through marshland and farms on the western edge of Istanbul, and say it will wreak environmental havoc, destroy a marine ecosystem and endanger some fresh water supply for the country’s biggest city.
The plan was shelved in recent years largely due to economic turmoil, lack of financing, and public opposition.
“We have not abandoned the Kanal Istanbul project. It is not on our agenda today, but when the day comes, the right financing is found, we will definitely do it,” Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
He was speaking a day after Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum said the project was not, and had not been, on the government’s agenda for some time.
Uraloglu’s comments come amid a widening legal crackdown on opposition members of the Istanbul municipality, including senior personnel that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) says were responsible for environmental matters among other issues. The CHP runs the municipality.
In March, a court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, from the CHP, as part of the months-long crackdown. The mayor is seen as Erdogan’s main political rival and leads him in some polls.
Imamoglu has denied all charges against him, while the CHP, other opposition parties and Western powers have said his arrest was a politicized move to eliminate a potential electoral threat to Erdogan, who has run the country for more than two decades.
His arrest has triggered mass protests and economic turmoil, but the government denies any influence over the judiciary.
Looting of Gaza stores signals worsening hunger crisis
- Aid workers say raids are result of desperation
- Kitchens that feed hundreds of thousands risk closure
CAIRO: Increased looting of food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip shows growing desperation as hunger spreads two months after Israel cut off supplies to the Palestinian territory, aid officials say.
Palestinian residents and aid officials said at least five incidents of looting took place across the enclave on Wednesday, including at community kitchens, merchants’ stores, and the UN Palestinian refugee agency’s (UNRWA) main complex in Gaza.
Israeli forces are continuing their aerial and ground offensive across Gaza in the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas that began nearly 19 months ago. Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 12 people, the territory’s health ministry said.
The looting “is a grave signal of how serious things have become in the Gaza Strip — the spread of hunger, the loss of hope and desperation among residents as well as the absence of the authority of the law,” said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) in Gaza.
Thousands of displaced people broke into the UNRWA complex in Gaza City late on Wednesday, stealing medicines from its pharmacy and damaging vehicles, said Louise Wateridge, a senior official for the agency based in Jordan.
“The looting, while devastating, is not surprising in the face of total systemic collapse. We are witnessing the consequences of a society brought to its knees by prolonged siege and violence,” she said in a statement shared with Reuters.
Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence shrunk sharply since Israel resumed large-scale attacks in March.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Gaza Hamas-run government media office, described the looting incidents as “isolated individual practices that do not reflect the values and ethics of our Palestinian people.”
He said that despite being targeted, Gaza authorities were “following up on these incidents and addressing them in a way that ensures the preservation of order and human dignity.”
CHILD MALNUTRITION
Thawabta said Israel, which since March 2 has blocked the entry of medical, fuel, and food supplies into Gaza, was to blame. Israel says its move was aimed at pressuring Hamas to free hostages as the ceasefire agreement stalled.
Israel has previously denied that Gaza was facing a hunger crisis. It has not made clear when and how aid will be resumed.
Israel’s military accuses Hamas of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.
The United Nations warned earlier this week that acute malnutrition among Gaza’s children was worsening.
Community kitchens that have provided lifelines for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are at risk of closure due to lack of supplies, and face an additional threat from looting.
“This is going to undermine the ability of the community kitchens to provide meals to a great number of families, and an indication that things have reached an unprecedentedly difficult level,” PNGO’s Shawa told Reuters.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s campaign in Gaza, Palestinian officials say.
It was launched after thousands of Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Much of the narrow coastal enclave has been reduced to rubble, leaving hundreds of thousands of people sheltering in tents or bombed-out buildings.
UK in talks with France, Saudi Arabia over Palestinian statehood
- Foreign Secretary David Lammy: Discussions taking place ahead of UN conference in June
- ‘It’s unacceptable for any group of people to have lived with no state for longer than I’ve been alive’
LONDON: The British government is in talks with its French and Saudi counterparts over official recognition of a Palestinian state, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has revealed.
Discussions are set to take place at a conference at the UN in June, The Guardian reported.
So far, 160 countries recognize Palestine, including most recently Spain, Norway and Ireland. If a deal can be reached, it would mean adding two permanent UN Security Council members — and key allies of Israel — to that list.
Lammy told the House of Lords International Relations Select Committee that EU countries’ recognition of Palestine had made little to no difference on progress toward statehood, and that the UK wanted something more than to make a symbolic gesture.
“It’s unacceptable for any group of people to have lived with no state for longer than I’ve been alive,” he told the committee.
“No one has a veto on when the UK recognizes that Palestinian state … We’ve always said that recognition isn’t an end in of itself, and we’ll prefer recognition as a part of a process to two states.
“(French) President (Emmanuel) Macron has had a lot to say about that, most recently, alongside the Saudis, and of course we’re in discussion with them at this time.”
Lammy said a viable state could not include Hamas remaining in power in Gaza, and a full demilitarization process of the enclave would need to be undertaken.
He added that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank is a threat to a two-state solution, and that settler violence against Palestinians is “shocking.”
He also took aim at Israel for its continuing prevention of aid entering Gaza, saying: “The blockade of necessary aid into Gaza is horrendous, the suffering is dire, the need is huge, the loss of life is extreme.”
On April 9, Macron said France would likely recognize a Palestinian state at the June conference, following an official visit to Egypt.
He later said the move, which would be the first such act of recognition by a G7 state, is intended to “trigger a series of other recognitions … including the recognition of Israel by states that do not currently do so.”
Michel Duclos, a special adviser at the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne, told The Guardian that the outcome of the June conference “may be nothing more than a roadmap or set of proposals.”
He added: “The dilemma for France may soon become more challenging — can it continue postponing its recognition of Palestine while waiting for a true two-state momentum? Or would further postponement undermine its credibility?”
Saudi Arabia has made clear that normalizing ties with Israel is conditional on a pathway to achieving a two-state solution.
Lebanon says three killed in Israeli strike on vehicle in south
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health ministry said three people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle in the country’s south on Thursday, despite a fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
The ministry said in a statement that an “Israeli enemy” drone strike on a vehicle in the southern town of Mais Al-Jabal killed “a Lebanese and two Syrians.”
UAE, Lebanon agree to deepen economic and diplomatic ties during President Aoun’s visit
- The UAE’s Knowledge Exchange Office will visit Beirut to share expertise on improving government performance and institutional excellence
- The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development will dispatch a delegation to Lebanon to evaluate potential joint economic projects
- Both sides also agreed to facilitate travel between their countries
DUBAI: The UAE and Lebanon have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation through a series of initiatives, state news agnecy WAM reported on Thursday.
The initiatives include the formation of a joint Emirati-Lebanese Business Council, efforts to increase mutual diplomatic representation, and support for Lebanon’s economic development and institutional reform.
The announcement came during Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s working visit to the UAE, where he was received by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan at Al-Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi.
The two leaders discussed ways to expand cooperation in economic, investment, and government sectors. As part of this effort, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development will send a delegation to Lebanon to assess potential joint projects, while the UAE’s Knowledge Exchange Office will visit Beirut to share best practices on government performance and institutional excellence.
Sheikh Mohamed reaffirmed the UAE’s commitment to supporting Lebanon’s stability, security, and sovereignty, emphasizing its strategic role within the Arab region. He expressed hope that the visit would bolster relations and advance mutual development goals.
The UAE president also said the reopening of its embassy in Beirut was a symbol of the country’s commitment to supporting Lebanon’s new phase.
Both sides also agreed to facilitate travel between their countries through appropriate mechanisms.
The leaders exchanged views on regional developments and stressed the importance of Arab unity and security.
President Aoun thanked the UAE for its longstanding support and expressed readiness to enhance bilateral ties.
