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PORT SUDAN, Sudan — Pro-democracy activists in Sudan reported Friday about 40 dead in "violent artillery fire" the previous day when paramilitary forces targeted Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city.

Sudan has been ravaged by war since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the army, led by military chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Burhan's former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The Karari Resistance Committee, one of hundreds of grassroots pro-democracy groups that coordinate aid across Sudan, said the RSF was behind Thursday's deadly attack on Omdurman.

"So far, the death toll is estimated at 40 civilians and there are more than 50 injured, some seriously," the organisation posted on social media.

"There is still no precise count of the number of victims," it said, adding that bodies were received by Al Nao university hospital and other private health facilities or were buried by relatives.

The shelling came a day after the RSF was accused of killing more than 104 people, including 35 children, when they attacked the village of Wad Al Noura in Al-Jazira state, south of Khartoum.

In just over a year, the war in Sudan has claimed thousands of lives, with some estimates putting the death toll as high as 150,000, according to the United States envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello.

War crimes 

accusations 

Since the war began, more than seven million people have fled their homes for other parts of Sudan, adding to 2.8 million already displaced from previous conflicts in the country of 48 million.

Fighting continues daily, including in the capital, with both sides accused of war crimes including deliberately targeting civilians, indiscriminate shelling of residential areas and blocking humanitarian aid.

At least 35 children were killed in the attack on Wad Al Noura, with activists from the Madani Resistance Committee sharing images on social media of a row of white shrouds on the ground.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the attack, while the UN resident coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, said she was “shocked by reports of violent attacks and a high number of casualties” in the village, and called for an investigation.

“Human tragedy has become a hallmark of life in Sudan. We cannot allow impunity to become another one,” she added.

The European Union was “appalled by credible reports of yet another senseless massacre of over 100 defenceless villagers”, its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement Friday.

He stressed the importance of “monitoring and documentation of human rights violations” in Sudan’s war “to ensure that the perpetrators of these crimes are held fully accountable”.

UNICEF chief ‘horrified’ 

African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat said he was “alarmed” that the situation in Sudan continued to deteriorate, and called in a statement on the warring sides “to end the fighting unconditionally”.

The United States condemned the “horrific attacks... on unarmed civilians” in Wad Al Noura, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, urging accountability and a resumption of ceasefire talks.

“Attacks on civilians throughout Sudan must stop now. There can be no military victory in this war,” Miller’s statement said.

The RSF is accused of looting as well as sexual and ethnic violence, and has attacked entire villages across Sudan on multiple occasions.

In a statement, the paramilitaries said they had attacked three army camps in the region of Wad Al Noura and clashed with them “outside” the inhabited area.

On Thursday, army chief Burhan visited the injured. In a statement he promised to “respond harshly” to the “crimes” of the RSF.

The head of the UN’s children’s agency, Catherine Russell, said she was “horrified by the reports that at least 35 children were killed and more than 20 children injured” in the attack.

“Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are unacceptable and must cease immediately,” the UNICEF chief said.

Both Russell and Borrell called on those fighting to abide by international law and for an end to the war.

On Thursday, the International Organization for Migration said the number of internally displaced persons could “exceed 10 million” in the coming days.

Starvation is also a growing threat in Sudan, with about 18 million people suffering from hunger and 3.8 million children acutely malnourished, according to UN agencies.

PORT SUDAN, Sudan — A Sudanese pro-democracy activists' committee Thursday reported "more than 104" dead in a single day when paramilitary forces attacked a village, as the UN warned of mass displacement and starvation.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, on Wednesday attacked the central village of Wad Al Noura in Al Jazira state "in two waves" with heavy artillery, the Madani Resistance Committee said.

It reported on Wednesday that the feared paramilitaries had "invaded the village", causing dozens of casualties and widespread displacement.

The attack "claimed the lives of more than 104 martyrs" and "injured hundreds" said the committee, one of hundreds of similar grassroots groups across Sudan, adding that it reached the toll via "initial communication with village residents".

On social media, the committee shared footage of what it said was a "mass grave" in the public square, showing rows of white shrouds laid out in a courtyard.

In a little over a year, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, including up to 15,000 in a single West Darfur town.

However, the war’s overall death toll remains unclear, with some estimates of up to 150,000, according to US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello.

The RSF has repeatedly besieged and attacked entire villages across the country, and has been notorious for widespread looting as well as sexual and ethnic violence.

In a statement late Wednesday, the RSF said it had attacked three army camps in the Wad al-Noura area, and clashed with its enemy “outside the city”.

The resistance committee called the RSF’s statement an “expected” attempt to “criminalise the people of Wad al-Noura and label them a legitimate target”.

It also said the villagers had “called for help from the armed forces, which did not respond”.

The military has not issued an official comment, but Sudan’s ruling sovereignty council, under army chief Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, called Wednesday’s attack a “heinous massacre of defenceless civilians”.

The army has come under repeated criticism from Sudanese civilians for “abandoning” them and retreating in the face of RSF offensives, particularly in Al Jazira and the western Darfur region.

Both the army and the RSF — commanded by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo — have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians, indiscriminately shelling residential areas and looting or obstructing humanitarian aid.

The Emergency Lawyers, a pro-democracy group of volunteers who document the war’s atrocities, said on Thursday the attack on Wad al-Noura was a “war crime” and called on the international community to “exert pressure” on both sides to abide by international law.

‘Looming famine’

The UN migration agency warned on Thursday that internal displacement figures in Sudan could “top 10 million” within days.

Since the war began, more than 7 million people have fled their homes for other parts of Sudan, adding to 2.8 million already displaced from previous conflicts in the war-torn country of 48 million inhabitants.

“The world’s worst internal displacement crisis continues to escalate, with looming famine and disease adding to the havoc wrought by conflict,” the International Organisation for Migration said in a statement.

Across Sudan, 70 per cent of those displaced “are now trying to survive in places that are at risk of famine”, it added.

The UN says 18 million people in Sudan are acutely hungry, with 3.6 million children acutely malnourished.

Widespread hunger has haunted the country for months, while aid agencies say a lack of data has prevented the official declaration of a famine.

If the current humanitarian situation continues, 2.5 million people could die of hunger by the end of September, according to recent estimates by the Clingendael Institute, a Dutch think tank.

That figure is “about 15 per cent of the population in Darfur and Kordofan”, the country’s vast western and southern regions which have seen some of the worst fighting, the institute said.

CAIRO — Egypt has received encouraging signals from Hamas over a potential Gaza truce and hostage-prisoner swap with Israel, state-linked Al Qahera News said on Thursday, citing a high-level source.

Cairo has been engaged along with fellow mediators Doha and Washington in months of negotiations for a ceasefire aimed at ending the Hamas-Israel war in the Gaza Strip.

"Hamas leaders have informed us that they are studying the truce proposal seriously and positively," Al Qahera quoted the source as saying.

The source, who was not named, said the Palestinian group was expected to respond to the proposal in the coming days.

Egypt, which invited Hamas leaders to negotiations in Cairo, had “received positive signs from the Palestinian movement signalling its aspiration for a ceasefire”, the source added.

The comments came a day after Hamas representatives met in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Apart from a seven-day ceasefire in November, during which more than 100 hostages were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, mediation efforts have failed to stop the conflict.

Last week US President Joe Biden unveiled a “roadmap to an enduring ceasefire” that would see Israel withdraw from Gaza’s population centres and Hamas release hostages.

On Thursday, Biden and 16 other world leaders urged Hamas to accept the proposal.

Israel’s military offensive on Gaza has killed at least 36,654 people since October 7, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

BEIRUT — A Syrian was arrested after a shooting near the US embassy in Beirut on Wednesday, the Lebanese army said, with the embassy saying its staff were safe.

The embassy, in the northern suburb of Awkar, "was subjected to gunfire by a person holding Syrian nationality", the army said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

"Army personnel deployed in the area responded to the sources of fire, wounding the shooter," the statement said, adding that "he was arrested and transported to hospital".

The army said it was investigating the shooting.

The US embassy said "at 8:34am [05:34 GMT]... small arms fire was reported in the vicinity of the entrance".

"Thanks to the quick reaction" of the Lebanese army, security forces "and our embassy security team, our facility and our team are safe", it said on X.

It added that "investigations are underway and we are in close contact with host country law enforcement".

An AFP photographer said access to the area around the embassy was blocked off, with a heavy army deployment in the area.

In images posted on social media, a man can be heard saying in Arabic "there's an attack on the embassy", as gunshots ring out in the background.

A judicial source told AFP that security forces were combing wooded areas near the embassy for any accomplices, adding that the shooter's wounds were "serious".

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati spoke with army and security service official who assured him "the situation is under control", a statement from his office said.

"An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident and arrest all those involved," the statement said, adding that US Ambassador Lisa Johnson was currently outside Lebanon.

In September last year, a gunman opened fire at the US embassy, without causing casualties.

Lebanese police alleged the shooter was a delivery driver seeking revenge for his perceived humiliation by security personnel.

That shooting coincided with the anniversary of a deadly 1984 car bombing outside the US embassy annexe in Beirut, which the United States blamed on Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

US diplomatic and military missions in Lebanon were attacked on a number of occasions during the 1975-1990 civil war, when hardline Islamists also took several US hostages.

The embassy relocated to Awkar after

BUREIJ, Palestinian Territories — Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal.

Tensions were high in occupied East Jerusalem where thousands of occupation forces were deployed to guard Israel's annual "flag March" that has sparked clashes between Jews and Arabs in previous years.

The bloodiest ever Gaza war raged on unabated with jets bombing targets overnight and Palestinian officials reporting yet more deaths.

Urban combat and shelling rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, the last city hit by the Israeli ground invasion launched in northern Gaza in late October.

But fighting has also flared again in central areas, where the army said "troops have started targeted operational activity in the areas of Bureij and eastern Deir Al Balah, both above and below ground".

“The activity started with a series of air strikes on terror targets, including military compounds, weapons storage facilities and underground infrastructure,” it said.

“During the strikes, several Hamas terrorists were eliminated.”

Bombardment of central Gaza killed 11 people near the Al-Maghazi camp and two near Deir Al Balah, said witnesses and Palestinian civil defence and hospital officials.

Families have rushed the dead and wounded to hospitals in the area, where AFP reporters said civilians were once more packing their belongings on pickup trucks and wheelchairs to flee.

Almost eight months into the war, global outrage has spiralled over the soaring death toll and the destruction in Gaza, where UN data suggests more than half of all buildings are destroyed or damaged.

US President Joe Biden last Friday outlined what he called a three-phase Israeli plan that would halt the fighting for six weeks while hostages are exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and aid is stepped up.

G7 powers and Arab states have backed the proposal, although sticking points remain — Hamas insists on a permanent truce and full Israeli withdrawal, demands Israel has flatly rejected.

Biden has urged Hamas to accept the deal and deployed CIA chief Bill Burns to Qatar for a renewed push after months of back-and-forth negotiations.

A source with knowledge of the talks said Burns would “continue working with mediators on reaching an agreement between Hamas and Israel on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages”.

Brett McGurk, Biden’s top Middle East adviser, was also headed to Qatar, according to news site Axios which quoted sources as talking of a “full-court press... to get a breakthrough”.

Egypt’s state-linked Al Qahera News said an “Egyptian security delegation will meet with its Qatari and US counterparts in Doha on Wednesday to discuss the mechanism of restoring the truce talks”.

Qatar said on Tuesday it had yet to see statements from either side “that give us a lot of confidence”, but that Doha was “working with both sides on proposals on the table”.

Biden earlier told Qatar’s emir that “Hamas is now the only obstacle to a complete ceasefire”, and “confirmed Israel’s readiness to move forward” with the terms he set out last week.

A senior Hamas official in Beirut on Tuesday accused Israel of seeking “endless” truce negotiations, and repeated the group’s position rejecting any deal that excludes a permanent ceasefire.

Flashpoint Jerusalem march

Israeli police deployed 3,000 officers in Jerusalem ahead of the annual march by right-wingers commemorating Israel’s capture of the Old City in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The annual march draws Israeli religious ultranationalists and Zionist youth groups and leads through the city’s Muslim Quarter to the Western Wall.

It has been a lightning rod for Israeli-Palestinian tensions in recent years.

On the day the march was held in 2021, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets towards Jerusalem, setting off a 12-day conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group.

Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive have killed at least 36,550 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

Israel has faced growing diplomatic isolation, cases against it before two international courts, and several European governments recognising a Palestinian state.

Tensions have also risen between Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the United States remains Israel’s top ally, political backer and weapons supplier.

Biden took a swipe in an interview with Time magazine at Netanyahu, who is leading a shaky right-wing coalition government and has been fighting corruption claims in court.

Asked if he believed the Israeli premier was dragging out the war for political self-preservation, Biden said: “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion.”

DOHA — Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday it was waiting for a "clear position" from Israel on a proposed Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by US President Joe Biden.

"We have yet to see a very clear position from the Israeli government towards the principles laid out by President Biden," Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said, adding there was no "concrete approval" from either side.

"We have read and seen the contradictory statements coming in from Israeli ministers, which doesn't give us much confidence of there being a unified position in Israel over this current proposal on the table," he said.

The Palestinian movement Hamas had also yet to give a firm response, the official added.

"We haven't seen any statements on both sides that give us a lot of confidence," he added, noting however that the process was ongoing and that "we have been working with both sides on proposals on the table".

The official later said Doha had received an "Israeli proposal which reflects the positions stated by President Biden" and is "much closer" to meeting conditions of both Israel and Hamas.

"We have delivered the proposal to the Hamas side," Ansari said, adding that Qatar is making its "best efforts to finalise an agreement".

Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, has been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations over details for a ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners.

But with the exception of a seven-day break in fighting from November that led to the release of more than 100 hostages, the mediation efforts have not stopped the fighting.

In an effort to reinvigorate talks, Biden said on Friday that Israel was offering a new three-stage roadmap.

According to the US president, Israel’s offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see its forces withdraw from populated areas of Gaza and an initial hostage-prisoner exchange.

The parties would then negotiate for a lasting ceasefire, with the truce to continue as long as talks are ongoing.

In its final phase, the plan would lead to the reconstruction of the devastated Palestinian territory without Hamas in power, Biden said.

Ansari said “there is momentum internationally, driven by the US... but we need to be very cautious”.

“We are using our leverage as a mediator... to make sure that both sides understand the gravity of the situation and the need to reach an agreement.”

The US president and Qatar’s ruler spoke on Monday when, according to the White House, Biden told the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, that Hamas was the only obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire deal and urged him to press the group to accept it.

Negotiations ground to a halt in early May as Israel began ground operations in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Previous frameworks presented by mediators have run aground over Hamas demand that any truce lead to a permanent ceasefire, while Israel has said it must be allowed to pursue its war aim of destroying the Palestinian militant group.

Meanwhile, two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties in Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition said on Tuesday that they support the Gaza ceasefire proposal announced by US President Joe Biden.

But on Tuesday, the largest partner in the alliance, Shas, said it backed the proposal which would facilitate the return of hostages still held in Gaza since October 7 when Hamas militants attacked Israel.

“Shas supports the proposal and encourages the prime minister and the war Cabinet to resist all pressures, conclude this agreement and save the lives of many of our brothers and sisters,” said the party that has 11 seats in the 120-member parliament.

Yitzhak Goldknopf, leader of the other ultra-Orthodox party United Torah Judaism, which has seven seats, said on X that he had told the hostage families “that we will support any proposal that leads to the release of the hostages”.

BAGHDAD — Iraqi authorities have made several arrests over recent attacks on US-linked outlets, including among security force personnel, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Dozens of men attacked two restaurants in Baghdad on Monday including a KFC, security officials said, as calls grow to boycott US brands over Israel's war in Gaza.

They were the latest in a spate of attacks targeting Western-linked brands in Iraq that started last week and have so far caused damage but no casualties.

The attacks intended to "harm American interests", the ministry said, adding that several suspects had been arrested over last week's attacks.

"Unfortunately, it appeared that some of them belong to one of the security apparatuses and had carried out these actions to harm American interests," the ministry said.

A security source said 13 suspects were arrested on Monday, without providing details. Another security official said several people were detained but later released.

Monday's attack came shortly after the powerful pro-Iranian group Kataeb Hizbollah called on its supporters to "boycott and expel" what they denounced as "spy" entities affiliated with the "occupation".

The group, which Washington considers a "terrorist" organisation, has repeatedly called for US troops to leave Iraq.

Kataeb Hizbollah is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose alliance of pro-Iran groups that had claimed attacks on US troops over the Gaza war before suspending them in late January.

It is also part of the Hashed Al Shaabi, a coalition of paramilitaries now integrated into Iraq's regular security forces.

Since the war in Gaza started in October, a boycott movement spearheaded by pro-Palestinian activists has targeted major Western brands, such as Starbucks and McDonald’s.

Iraq does not recognise the state of Israel, and all of its political parties support the Palestinian cause.

KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel — Israeli authorities were on alert for new brush fires on Tuesday, after munitions fired from Lebanon by Hizbollah the previous evening ignited several across northern Israel.

The Israel Fire and Rescue Service said that dozens of firefighting teams worked through the night along with teams from the Nature and Park Service, army, police and other agencies before gaining control over the largest fires in the morning, an AFP journalist reported.

"As of this time there are three active sites" near the border with Lebanon, the fire service posted on X Tuesday. An AFP journalist said firefighters were still handling smaller fires.

The blazes encroached on Kiryat Shmona, a town near the Lebanese border that has been largely evacuated in the face of near-daily exchanges of fire between the army and Hizbollah since Hamas's October 7 surprise attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

Extreme heat that has gripped the region in recent days has raised the risk of brush fires. The daily barrages of rockets and drone strikes have rained down incendiary material.

An AFP photographer in the northern town saw intense blazes engulfing parts of the border area.

On Sunday, a brush fire in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights burned around 10 square kilometres of land after a rocket fired from Lebanon struck near the town of Katzrin.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency also reported fires in Alma Al Shaab and Dhayra, two villages near the Israeli border. It said the fires were caused by "Israeli phosphorus incendiary shells".

The Israeli forces said it had deployed reinforcements to support firefighters overwhelmed by the scale of the blazes.

“Six... reservist soldiers were lightly injured as a result of smoke inhalation and transferred to a hospital to receive medical treatment,” the army said.

“The forces gained control over the locations of fire, and at this stage, no human life is at risk,” it added.

In retaliation, the Israeli army announced it had carried out air strikes against what it said were Hizbollah targets in southern Lebanon.

NNA reported that Israeli incendiary shells had sparked a forest fire that was approaching houses in the southern village of Alma Al-Shaab on Tuesday.