Sudan’s RSF, allies sign charter for rival government: sources
Sudan’s RSF, allies sign charter for rival government: sources/node/2591301/middle-east
Sudan’s RSF, allies sign charter for rival government: sources
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and a coalition of political and armed groups have signed a founding charter to establish a parallel government in the war-ravaged country. (AFP)
Sudan’s RSF, allies sign charter for rival government: sources
Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and a coalition of political and armed groups have signed a founding charter to establish a parallel government in the war-ravaged country
Updated 14 sec ago
AFP
NAIROBI: Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and a coalition of political and armed groups have signed a founding charter to establish a parallel government in the war-ravaged country, sources said Sunday.
“It’s done,” a source close to the organizers of the signing ceremony, which took place overnight in Nairobi, told AFP.
The signatories said the charter paves the way for a “government of peace and unity” in rebel-controlled areas of Sudan.
The move comes nearly two years into a devastating war with the regular army that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises.
The signing, delayed multiple times, took place behind closed doors in the Kenyan capital.
Among those who signed was a faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, which controls parts of the southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Abdel Rahim Dagalo, deputy and brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo — who was notably absent — also signed.
The charter, seen by AFP, calls for “a secular, democratic, decentralized state based on freedom, equality, and justice, without bias toward any cultural, ethnic, religious, or regional identity.”
It also outlines plans for a “new, unified, professional, national army” with a new military doctrine that “reflects the diversity and plurality characterising the Sudanese state.”
The proposed government, according to the charter, aims to end the war, ensure unhindered humanitarian aid and integrate armed groups into a single, national force.
The war between the RSF and the army, triggered by disputes over integrating the paramilitary force into the regular military, has killed tens of thousands with both warring parties accused of war crimes.
The conflict has torn the country in two, with the army in control of the north and east, while the RSF holds nearly all of the western region of Darfur and swathes of the south.
Hamas says Israel’s claim on hostages’ handover ceremony is pretext to evade Gaza truce obligations
‘Decision a deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a clear violation of its terms, and shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations’
Updated 8 min 56 sec ago
Reuters
DUBAI: Hamas on Sunday condemned Israel’s decision to postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, saying its claim that the hostages’ handover ceremonies are “humiliating” was false and a pretext to evade Israel’s obligations under the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu’s decision reflects a deliberate attempt to disrupt the agreement, represents a clear violation of its terms, and shows the occupation’s lack of reliability in implementing its obligations,” Ezzat El Rashq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said in a statement.
Israel said earlier it was delaying the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners it had planned to free the day before until Hamas met its conditions, underscoring the fragility of the Gaza ceasefire accord.
Netanyahu’s office released a statement in the early hours of Sunday saying that Israel was waiting to deliver the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies.”
Hamas’ El Rashq said the ceremonies do not include any insult to the hostages, “but rather reflect the humane and dignified treatment of them,” adding that the “real insult” is what the Palestinian prisoners are subjected to during the release process.
The Palestinian militant group official cited the hands’ tying of the Palestinian prisoners and detainees and their blindfolding and threatening them not to hold any celebrations for their release as examples of their humiliation at the hands of Israeli authorities.
Hamas has made hostages appear on stage in front of crowds and sometimes speak before they were handed over. Coffins with hostage remains have also been carried through crowds.
Israel’s announcement, which also accused Hamas of repeatedly violating the month-old ceasefire, came after the Palestinian militant group on Saturday handed over six hostages from Gaza as part of an exchange arranged under the truce.
The six hostages freed on Saturday were the last living Israeli captives due to be handed over during the first phase of the ceasefire. The bodies of four dead Israeli hostages were to be released next week.
Thousands to attend funeral of late Hezbollah leader Nasrallah 5 months after his death
Mourners converged in Beirut for the massive funeral of the group's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah
The funeral is being held nearly five months after Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital
Updated 50 min 26 sec ago
AP
BEIRUT: Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut early Sunday to attend the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader, nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.
Hassan Nasrallah was killed when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the militant group’s main operations room. His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.
Nasrallah was the group’s leader for more than 30 years and one of its founders. He enjoyed wide influence among Iran-backed groups in the region and was widely respected in the so-called Iran-led axis of resistance that included Iraqi, Yemeni and Palestinian factions.
Officials from around the region including Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi were expected to attend the funeral at the Lebanese capital’s main sports stadium. Lebanese officials including the parliament speaker and representatives of the president and prime minister were expected to attend the funeral believed to be Lebanon’s largest in two decades.
Senior Hezbollah official Ali Daamoush told reporters Saturday that about 800 personalities from 65 countries will be attending the funeral in addition to thousands of individuals and activists who came from around the world.
“Come from every home, village and city so that we tell the enemy that this resistance will stay and is ready in the field,” Daamoush said, referring to Israel.
Nasrallah will be laid to rest later Sunday in Beirut while his cousin and successor Hashem Safieddine, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb a few days later, will be laid to rest in his hometown in southern Lebanon. The two had temporarily been buried in secret locations. Hezbollah earlier this month announced plans for their official funerals.
Hezbollah has been calling on its supporters to attend the funeral in large numbers in what appears to be a move to show that the group remains powerful after suffering major blows during a 14-month war with Israel that left many of its senior political and military officials dead.
Another blow for Hezbollah was the fall in early December of the Assad family’s five-decade rule in Syria that was a strong ally of the Lebanese group and a main route for the flow of weapons and money from Iran.
As part of the US-brokered ceasefire deal that ended the war with Israel on Nov. 27, Hezbollah is not supposed to have an armed presence along the border with Israel. Hezbollah’s rivals have been calling on the group to lay down its weapons all over Lebanon and become a political faction.
Hezbollah has prepared for the funeral by setting up the stadium to host tens of thousands of people while giant screens were placed along the airport road outside the stadium for people who won’t get a space inside to watch the funeral. Tight security measures have been taken, including the closure of major roads in the area of the funeral.
Lebanese army and police forces were placed on alert and the army has banned the use of drones in Beirut and its suburbs during the day. Flights to and from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport will stop for four hours starting at noon.
Hezbollah has given a title to the funeral: “We are committed to the covenant.”
Israel delays release of Palestinian prisoners, citing ‘humiliating’ handovers of hostages
Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners’ affairs confirms delay in release of 620 detainees
Israel's abrupt announcement puts future of fragile truce with Palestinian group Hamas in doubt
Updated 23 February 2025
AP
TEL AVIV, Israel: Israel says the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners is delayed “until the release of the next hostages has been assured, and without the humiliating ceremonies” at handovers of Israeli captives in Gaza.
The statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office came early Sunday as military vehicles that normally move in advance of the buses carrying prisoners left the open gates of Ofer prison, only to turn around and go back in.
The release of 620 Palestinian prisoners had been delayed for several hours and was meant to occur just after six Israeli hostages were released on Saturday. It was meant to be the largest one-day prisoner release in the Gaza ceasefire’s first phase.
Israel’s announcement abruptly put the future of the truce into further doubt.
The Palestinian Authority’s commission for prisoners’ affairs confirmed the delay “until further notice.” Associated Press video in the West Bank showed prisoners’ families, waiting outdoors in near-freezing weather, apparently dispersing. One woman was shown walking away in tears.
Palestinian families react after Israel delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners, scheduled to be released in the seventh hostage-prisoner exchange, in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah early on February 23, 2025. (AFP)
Five of the six hostages freed Saturday had been escorted by masked, armed militants in front of a crowd — a display that the UN and Red Cross have criticized as cruel after previous handovers.
The Israeli statement cited “ceremonies that demean the dignity of our hostages and the cynical use of the hostages for propaganda purposes.” It was likely a reference to a Hamas video showing two hostages who have yet to be released watching a handover in Gaza on Saturday and speaking under duress.
The six were the last living hostages expected to be freed under the ceasefire ‘s first phase, with a week remaining in the initial stage. Talks on the ceasefire’s second phase are yet to start.
The six included three Israeli men seized from the Nova music festival and another taken while visiting family in southern Israel during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the 16-month war in Gaza. The two others were held for a decade after entering Gaza on their own.
Five were handed over in staged ceremonies. In one, Omer Wenkert, Omer Shem Tov and Eliya Cohen were posed alongside Hamas fighters. A beaming Shem Tov, acting under duress, kissed two militants on the head and blew kisses to the crowd. They wore fake army uniforms, though they were not soldiers when abducted.
A drone view shows Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov, and Omer Wenkert, hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, being escorted by Hamas militants as they are released in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, on Feb. 22, 2025. (REUTERS)
Cohen’s family and friends in Israel chanted “Eliya! Eliya! Eliya!” and cheered.
“You’re heroes,” Shem Tov told his parents as they later embraced, laughing and crying. “You have no idea how much I dreamt of you.” His father, Malki Shem Tov, told public broadcaster Kan his son was held alone after the first 50 days and lost 17 kilograms (37 pounds).
Earlier Saturday, Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38, were freed. Mengistu, an Ethiopian-Israeli, entered Gaza in 2014. His family told Israeli media he has struggled with mental health issues. The Israeli-Austrian Shoham was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri. His wife and two children were freed in a 2023 exchange.
Later, Israel’s military said Hisham Al-Sayed, 36, was released. The Bedouin Israeli entered Gaza in 2015. His family has told Israeli media he was previously diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Israel’s government didn’t respond to questions about the delay in releasing prisoners. Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal, with spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanou accusing Netanyahu of “deliberately stalling.”
The hostage release followed a heartrending dispute when Hamas on Thursday handed over the wrong body for Shiri Bibas, an Israeli mother abducted with her two young boys. The remains were determined to be those of a Palestinian woman. Netanyahu vowed revenge for “a cruel and malicious violation.” Hamas suggested it was a mistake.
Israeli forensic authorities confirmed a body handed over on Friday was Bibas. Dr. Chen Kugel, head of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, said they found no evidence Bibas and her children were killed in an Israeli airstrike, as Hamas has claimed. Kugel did not give a cause.
Hamas denied the Israeli military claim, based on forensic evidence and unspecified “intelligence,” that its militants killed the children “with their bare hands,” calling it a lie aimed at justifying Israeli military actions against civilians in Gaza. Difficult talks likely over the ceasefire’s next phase
The ceasefire deal has paused the deadliest and most devastating fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, but there are fears the war will resume. Negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase are likely to be more difficult.
Hamas had said it will release four bodies next week, completing the truce’s first phase. After that, Hamas will hold over 60 hostages — about half believed to be alive.
Hamas has said it won’t release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Netanyahu, with the backing of US President Donald Trump’s administration, says he’s committed to destroying Hamas’ military and governing capacities and returning all hostages, goals widely seen as mutually exclusive.
An Israeli official had said Netanyahu would meet with security advisers on Saturday evening about the ceasefire’s future, focusing “on the goal of returning all our hostages, alive and dead.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting had not been formally announced. Freed hostages bring relief and a sign of life
Wenkert, Cohen, Shoham and Shem Tov had an “extremely difficult period in captivity,” the Beilinson hospital said, but it did not give details at the families’ request.
Niva Wenkert, Omer’s mother, told Israel’s Channel 12 that “on the surface, he looks OK, but there’s no telling what’s inside.”
“This is an unforgettable moment, where all emotions are rapidly mixing together,” Shoham’s family said, and called for a deal to free all hostages still held.
Families and others rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv to pressure Netanyahu’s government for a deal.
“How is it possible that President Trump and special envoy (Steven) Witkoff are more committed to the return of Israeli hostages than you are?” said Naama Weinberg, cousin of deceased hostage Itay Svirsky. “Netanyahu, these are your citizens who were abandoned on your watch!”
Hamas later released a video showing two hostages still held, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dallal, as they sat in a vehicle and spoke under duress at the handover for Shem Tov, Cohen and Wenkert. A group representing hostages’ families called the video “sickening.” Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
The 620 Palestinian prisoners meant to be freed include 151 serving life or other sentences for attacks against Israelis. Almost 100 would be deported, according to the Palestinian prisoners’ media office.
A Palestinian prisoner rights association said they include Nael Barghouti, who spent over 45 years in prison for an attack that killed an Israeli bus driver.
Also meant to be released are 445 men, 23 children aged 15 to 19, and a woman, all seized by Israeli troops in Gaza without charge during the war.
Israel’s military offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
The offensive destroyed vast areas of Gaza, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble. At its height, the war displaced 90 percent of Gaza’s population.
The Oct. 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers have died in the war.
Autopsy on Bibas hostages shows ‘no evidence of injuries by bombing’: expert
Hamas has long insisted that an Israeli air strike killed Bibas and her sons early in the war
Updated 23 February 2025
AFP
JERUSALEM: An autopsy conducted on the remains of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas and her two young boys after they were handed over by Hamas militants found “no evidence of injuries caused by a bombing,” a top forensic expert said Saturday.
“We have identified the remains of Shiri Bibas, two days after identifying her children, Ariel and Kfir. Our examination found no evidence of injuries caused by (a) bombing,” Chen Kugel, director of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine said in a video statement.
Shiri Bibas and her sons were seized by militants on October 7, 2023 during the attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza.
Shiri’s husband and the father of the two boys, Yarden Bibas, had also been abducted but was released alive earlier this month.
Since their abduction, Shiri Bibas and her two sons, Ariel who was then aged four, and Kfir, then only nine months, had become symbols of Israel’s hostage ordeal.
On Thursday, Hamas handed over four bodies, saying they were of Shiri Bibas, her two young sons, and an elderly hostage.
While the remains of her two sons and the elderly hostage were identified positively, Israeli authorities said the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas, sparking anger and grief across the country.
But on Friday, Hamas — which blamed a possible “mix-up” of bodies — handed over new remains to the Red Cross, which were later identified to be that of Shiri Bibas.
Hamas has long insisted that an Israeli air strike killed Bibas and her sons early in the war.
However, the Israeli military asserts instead that they were killed by militants and even said that the two children were killed in “cold blood.”
“Ariel and Kfir Bibas were murdered by terrorists in cold blood. The terrorists did not shoot the two young boys — they killed them with their bare hands,” military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement on Friday.
“Afterwards, they committed horrific acts to cover up these atrocities,” he added.
The Bibas family described the deaths of the three hostages as murder, but asked that the manner of the death not be shared publicly.
“The family has not received any such details from official sources,” it said in a statement earlier on Saturday.
“The family requests to cease adding details regarding the fact that Shiri and the children were murdered by their captors.
“Yarden and the family want the world to know this was murder, without delving into any specifics,” it said.
On Saturday, Hamas reiterated that the Bibas family was not killed in captivity in Gaza.
“The false allegations that the criminal (Israeli) occupation is disseminating about the death of the Bibas children at the hands of their captors are merely baseless lies and fabrications,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement.
Yemen’s Houthis launched missile at US fighter jet, missed
The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen since November 2023 in support of Gaza’s Palestinian militants fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping
Updated 23 February 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: Yemen’s Houthis launched surface-to-air missiles at an American fighter jet and MQ-9 Reaper drone this week, but did not hit either, two US officials told Reuters.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not specify if the attacks occurred over the Red Sea or Yemen itself.
One said the incidents could suggest the Houthis were improving their targeting capabilities.
Abdul Malik Al-Houthi, who leads the Iran-backed group, said in a televised speech on Feb. 13 that the Houthis would intervene with missiles and drones and attack vessels in the Red Sea if the United States and Israel tried to remove Palestinians from Gaza by force.
An Israel-Hamas ceasefire took effect in Gaza on January 19 but has appeared close to collapse recently amid mutual accusations of violations.
US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace Palestinians from Gaza and take over the enclave to turn it into a beach resort.
The Houthis have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships off Yemen since November 2023 in support of Gaza’s Palestinian militants fighting Israel, disrupting global shipping.
The Iran-aligned movement, which controls northern Yemen, has also frequently fired missiles at Israel over the past year in what it says is solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where the war began more than 16 months ago.
