Israel army says Hamas holding hostages in Gaza’s Rafah

Hamas fighters accompanying newly released Israeli hostages (in pink) to a Red Cross vehicle, in the Gaza Strip on November 27, 2023. (AFP)
Hamas fighters accompanying newly released Israeli hostages (in pink) to a Red Cross vehicle, in the Gaza Strip on November 27, 2023. (AFP)
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Updated 15 April 2024
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Israel army says Hamas holding hostages in Gaza’s Rafah

Israel army says Hamas holding hostages in Gaza’s Rafah
  • The move comes just days after the army pulled out all troops from southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Yunis, leaving just one brigade to carry out operations across the Palestinian territory

JERUSALEM: Israel said Sunday that Hamas is holding hostages in Rafah in southern Gaza, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to launch a ground invasion despite international outcry.
“Hamas is still holding our hostages in Gaza... We also have hostages in Rafah, and we will do everything we can to bring them back home,” Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a briefing.
In a separate statement, the army said it was calling “approximately two reserve brigades for operational activities on the Gazan front.”
It did not specify whether the brigades would be deployed inside Gaza.
The move comes just days after the army pulled out all troops from southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Yunis, leaving just one brigade to carry out operations across the Palestinian territory.
 

 


Sudan’s SPLM-N rebel group declares famine in its territory

People pick up aid delivered on an excavator following devastating floods, in Port Sudan, Sudan, August 26, 2024. (REUTERS)
People pick up aid delivered on an excavator following devastating floods, in Port Sudan, Sudan, August 26, 2024. (REUTERS)
Updated 5 sec ago
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Sudan’s SPLM-N rebel group declares famine in its territory

People pick up aid delivered on an excavator following devastating floods, in Port Sudan, Sudan, August 26, 2024. (REUTERS)
  • The ongoing war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged half the population of about 50 million into food insecurity and created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis

DUBAI: A rebel group controlling Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and parts of Blue Nile state said on Wednesday that the local population was experiencing a hunger catastrophe.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said that 20 percent of families were suffering severe food shortages, while 30 percent of children suffered from malnutrition. An Arabic version of the statement described the situation as a famine.
It said the parties involved in Sudan’s civil war and a poor harvest were to blame for the crisis.
The situation in the two regions was “the most severe compared to other states,” the SPLM-N said. “The little foodstock that the host community has been able to produce is being shared and rapidly depleted.”
Some 3.9 million people live in the two territories under SPLM-N control, a number that swelled after people from other parts of the country were displaced by the fighting.
The ongoing war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged half the population of about 50 million into food insecurity and created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
Across the country, some 756,000 people face catastrophic hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global hunger monitor, said in June.
Both the army and the RSF are accused of blocking aid from reaching targeted areas, and of damaging the infrastructure and markets needed for food production and delivery.
The SPLM-N accused the army-aligned government in Port Sudan of selling aid allocated for the area, while it said the RSF was closing markets.
“Civilian villages in both regions were also targeted through a scorched earth policy, burning crops and homes, displacing residents to camps, and blocking roads,” it said.
The army and RSF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

 


Ben-Gvir repeats call for prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Ben-Gvir repeats call for prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Updated 47 min 12 sec ago
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Ben-Gvir repeats call for prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

Ben-Gvir repeats call for prayer at Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

JERUSALEM: Israel’s hard-line Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir repeated a call for Jews to be allowed to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, drawing sharp criticism for inflaming tensions as ceasefire negotiators seek a deal to halt fighting in Gaza. “The policy at the Temple Mount allows praying there. Period,” Ben-Gvir told an Army Radio interviewer. 

“The prime minister knew when I joined the government there would not be any discrimination.”

Asked if he would build a synagogue on the site if he could, Ben-Gvir replied “Yes, Yes.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office immediately put out a statement restating the official Israeli position, which accepts decades-old rules restricting non-Muslim prayer at the mosque compound.

“There is no change to the status quo on the Temple Mount,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The hillside compound in Jerusalem’s Old City is one of the most sensitive locations in the Middle East, and the trigger for repeated conflict. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said calls to tamper with the status of Al-Aqsa appeared intended “to drag the region into a religious war that will burn everyone.”

Ben-Gvir, head of one of two hard-line religious-nationalist parties in Netanyahu’s coalition, has a long record of making inflammatory statements appreciated by his supporters but conflicting with the government’s official line.


Israel announces air strike in West Bank, Palestinian Authority says 5 dead

Israel announces air strike in West Bank, Palestinian Authority says 5 dead
Updated 48 min 15 sec ago
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Israel announces air strike in West Bank, Palestinian Authority says 5 dead

Israel announces air strike in West Bank, Palestinian Authority says 5 dead
  • Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza, with more than 640 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops and settlers since Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack
  • Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem has been the target of multiple Israeli army operations

JERUSALEM: Israel said on Monday it carried out an air strike on the occupied West Bank, while the Palestinian Authority reported five killed in the incident.
“A short while ago, an aircraft struck an operational center in the area of Nur Shams,” an Israeli military spokesperson said, without providing a casualty count or specifying who was targeted.
“Five citizens were killed and others were injured,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
Violence in the West Bank has surged alongside the war in Gaza, with more than 640 Palestinians killed by Israeli troops and settlers since Hamas’s October 7 attack, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.
At least 19 Israelis have also died in Palestinian attacks during the same period, according to Israeli officials.
A correspondent for Wafa reported hearing four loud explosions and said Monday’s strike targeted a house in the Nur Shams refugee camp.
The camp near Tulkarem has been the target of multiple Israeli army operations.
Fourteen people died in one two-day Israeli operation in Nur Shams in April, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
And in July Israeli forces bulldozed the main street in Nur Shams during a raid that lasted 15 hours.


How floods, hunger and disease are making Sudan’s humanitarian disaster worse

How floods, hunger and disease are making Sudan’s humanitarian disaster worse
Updated 26 August 2024
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How floods, hunger and disease are making Sudan’s humanitarian disaster worse

How floods, hunger and disease are making Sudan’s humanitarian disaster worse
  • Beleaguered African nation’s collapsing healthcare system ill-prepared to face unfolding perfect storm of crises
  • Diseases will spread owing to lack of clean water, shortage of medicine and people with weakened immune systems

LONDON: Sudan’s prolonged conflict has brought devastation, but this year a new enemy has emerged: torrential rains and floods, killing over 100 people and reigniting a deadly cholera outbreak.

The situation has sparked a public health emergency in the violence-wracked African nation, where waterborne diseases like cholera, exacerbated by floods and poor sanitation, continue to surge.

A child suffering from cholera receives treatment at a rural isolation centre in Wad Al-Hilu in Kassala state in eastern Sudan, on August 17, 2024. (AFP)

The World Health Organization reported over 11,327 cholera cases and 316 deaths since June 2023, but the real numbers are likely higher. Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim, Sudan’s health minister, officially declared a cholera outbreak on Aug. 17, just a day after the WHO report.

“Cholera is caused by bacteria that are transmitted through contaminated water and the fecal-oral route,” said Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president of the medical NGO MedGlobal. “There are hundreds of new cholera cases in southeastern states, worsened by the recent torrential rains and floods.”

Damaged trucks burried in the mud after the collapse of the Arbaat Dam, 40km north of Port Sudan following heavy rains and torrential floods on August 25, 2024. (AFP)

Sudan’s history with cholera runs deep. A 2017 outbreak infected over 22,000 people within two months, killing at least 700. Today, a worsening humanitarian crisis driven by conflict has led to a resurgence of diseases, including dengue fever and meningitis.

Heavy rains have flooded conflict zones including Al-Jazirah, Khartoum and Darfur, contaminating water sources and amplifying the spread of disease.

IN NUMBERS

  • 11,327+ Cholera cases from June 2023 to August 2024.
  • 316+ Deaths from cholera during the same period.

(Source: WHO)

The rain, forecast to continue into September, has killed 114 people and displaced thousands already weakened by war and acute food shortages, according to Sudan’s Health Ministry.

Floods have displaced 20,000 people in 11 of Sudan’s 18 states since June, according to the International Organization for Migration. The Nile and Kassala states, near Eritrea, have been particularly hard-hit.

Sahloul cautioned that cholera would continue to spread due to the collapse of Sudan’s healthcare system, lack of clean water, and a shortage of medicine.

The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which broke out on April 15 last year, has claimed at least 15,000 lives and displaced 12 million people. Out of them, nearly 2 million are now refugees in three neighboring countries — Chad, Egypt and South Sudan.

The violence has decimated the healthcare system, with about 70 percent of hospitals in conflict zones no longer operational.

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan has been the largest in the world for many months now. More than half of the country’s 45 million people need urgent relief aid. Some food security specialists fear that as many as 2.5 million people could die from hunger by the end of this year.

The violence has decimated the healthcare system, with about 70 percent of hospitals in conflict zones no longer operational. (MSF)

In addition to cholera, Sudan faces another health crisis: the spread of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. The WHO has declared a public-health emergency following the rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries.

“The emergence of a new strain of mpox, clade 1, its rapid spread, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries are very worrying,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, said in mid-August.

Sahloul of MedGlobal, which has been providing essential aid in Sudan, cited the “regional increase in mpox cases and the spread to nearby Central and East African countries, including Uganda,” which borders Sudan, as the main reason for the declaration.

Workers gather to kickstart a hygiene and sanitation campaign initiated by health authorities in Sudan’s eastern city of Gedaref on August 24, 2024, to combat the spread of disease in the country. (AFP)

The virus, which causes flu-like symptoms and blistering rashes, can be deadly if left untreated. Sudan’s limited health infrastructure is already struggling to cope with multiple disease outbreaks, placing the country and its neighbors at risk.

With a fatality rate of 3.6 percent, clade 1 “is a dangerous disease caused by a virus that is from the same family of now-extinct smallpox,” Sahloul said.

“Like cholera, mpox is an infectious disease that spreads in an environment of displacement, crowding, and lack of access to personal hygiene and clean water.”

He added: “The spread of mpox in overcrowded camps and regions with poor sanitation could have catastrophic consequences.”

Sudanese already displaced by conflict, rest under a blanket at a makeshift campsite they were evacuated to following deadly floods in the eastern city of Kassala on August 12, 2024. (AFP)

Sahloul said both cholera and mpox “can undermine health security regionally and internationally, and may spread quickly to neighboring countries like Egypt, Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan.”

The situation is especially concerning as “many of these countries have their own separate crises.”

Against this alarming backdrop, the international community has been calling for a ceasefire to allow humanitarian aid to reach the affected areas in Sudan.

The US opened talks in Switzerland on Aug. 14 aimed at easing the human suffering and achieving a lasting ceasefire. The talks were co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the UAE and the UN completing the so-called Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group (ALPS).

According to an AFP report, an RSF delegation showed up but the SAF were unhappy with the format and did not attend, though they were in telephone contact with the mediators. The talks ended on Aug. 16 without a ceasefire but with progress on securing aid access on two key routes into the country.

People receive treatment at the Bashair hospital in Sudan's capital on September 10, 2023. (AFP)

The reopening of the Adre crossing from Chad is a key development for aid organizations. The crossing is the most effective route for delivering relief supplies into Sudan, where millions are in dire need of food, clean water, and medical care.

“The reopening will enable the entry of aid needed to stop the famine and address food insecurity,” said a joint statement from the five countries. The statement called on Sudan’s warring parties to coordinate with humanitarian groups to ensure aid reaches the most vulnerable people.

Sudan’s hunger crisis has left more than 25.6 million people vulnerable to infections, according to the UN. The breadbasket regions of Al-Jazirah and Sennar along the Blue Nile have been devastated. People there are going hungry for the first time in generations, according to a recent BBC report.

It says starvation is worst in Darfur, especially in El-Fasher, the only city in the region still controlled by the army and its local allies.

With limited access to clean water and sanitation, many Sudanese — especially in refugee camps — are at high risk of contracting cholera, mpox and other diseases. “The combination of displacement, crowding, and lack of clean water creates a perfect storm for outbreaks,” said Sahloul.

Sudan’s history with cholera runs deep. A 2017 outbreak infected over 22,000 people within two months, killing at least 700. (AFP)

UNICEF has reported that more than 17.3 million people in Sudan currently lack access to safe drinking water, while the International Federation of Medical Students Associations estimates that 829,000 deaths annually are linked to diseases caused by contaminated war and poor standards of sanitation and hygiene.

As Sudan grapples with cholera, mpox and a humanitarian catastrophe, the country’s people await an end to the violence that continues to fuel this public health disaster.

 


Iraq fire tears through fuel tankers, kills one driver

Iraq fire tears through fuel tankers, kills one driver
Updated 26 August 2024
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Iraq fire tears through fuel tankers, kills one driver

Iraq fire tears through fuel tankers, kills one driver
  • The fire injured 7, destroyed 15 tankers carrying petroleum derivatives

SULAIMANIYAH: A fire that engulfed around fifteen fuel tankers in northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region killed one driver and injured seven others on Monday, local authorities said.
The exact cause of the fire, which broke out in a parking area for the Parviz Khan border crossing that connects the autonomous Kurdistan region with Iran, was still under investigation.
“Firefighters have brought the fire at the Parviz Khan border crossing under control,” the Garmiyan regional municipality, home to the crossing, said in a statement.
“One person was killed and seven others injured,” it said, adding that the victims were all taken to hospital.
“The fire broke out around 1900 (1600 GMT) in a parking area reserved for fuel tankers and lasted around two hours,” the municipal spokesman Shoman Ahmed told AFP.
The fire destroyed 15 tankers carrying petroleum derivatives, he said, adding that a lorry driver died while firefighters were among the injured.
An investigative committee has been appointed to establish the cause of the fire, but initial reports suggest that a driver had taken out a gas stove to prepare a meal, Ahmed said.
Fires are a frequent occurrence in Iraq, where safety rules are often not followed, especially in the construction and transportation sectors.
With summer temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius, the country has experienced several fires in recent months including in shopping centers, warehouses and even hospitals.