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Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns
Chinese nationals evacuated from Sudan wave Saudi flags as they arrive at King Faisal navy base in Jeddah on Apr. 26, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 08 May 2025

Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns

Chinese embassy in Sudan urges citizens to evacuate amid security concerns
  • The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel

BEIJING: The Chinese embassy in Sudan on Thursday issued a statement urging Chinese citizens in the country to evacuate as soon as possible, citing deteriorating security situation and rising security risks.
The embassy warned of dwindling supplies of water, electricity and fuel, and advised citizens to evacuate via ships to Ƶ or available international flights, or to travel by land to Egypt.


Palestinians, Israel disagree on whether Gaza’s crucial Rafah crossing will reopen Monday

Palestinians, Israel disagree on whether Gaza’s crucial Rafah crossing will reopen Monday
Updated 18 October 2025

Palestinians, Israel disagree on whether Gaza’s crucial Rafah crossing will reopen Monday

Palestinians, Israel disagree on whether Gaza’s crucial Rafah crossing will reopen Monday
  • The Rafah crossing is the only one not controlled by Israel before the war
  • It’s unclear who will operate the crossing’s heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends

CAIRO: The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen Monday for people returning to Gaza, the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said Saturday, but the territory’s sole gateway to the outside world will remain closed to people trying to leave.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement within minutes, saying that the Rafah crossing wouldn’t reopen “until further notice,” adding that it would depend on how Hamas fulfills its role in returning all the bodies of the dead hostages.
Israel’s foreign ministry on Thursday had said that the crossing would likely reopen Sunday — another step in the fragile ceasefire.
The Rafah crossing is the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.
It’s unclear who will operate the crossing’s heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends.


US envoy Witkoff felt ‘betrayed’ by Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar

US envoy Witkoff felt ‘betrayed’ by Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar
Updated 18 October 2025

US envoy Witkoff felt ‘betrayed’ by Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar

US envoy Witkoff felt ‘betrayed’ by Israeli attack on Hamas in Qatar
  • “I think both Jared and I felt, I just feel we felt a little bit betrayed,” Witkoff told the CBS news
  • “It had a metastasizing effect because the Qataris were critical to the negotiation, as were the Egyptians and the Turks“

WASHINGTON: US envoy Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s chief negotiator on the Middle East, has said that he felt “betrayed” when Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas negotiators in Qatar last month.
In a CBS interview alongside Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who worked with Witkoff on the brokering of a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the presidential envoy said he learned of the September 9 attack in Doha the morning after it happened.
Qatar is a key US ally and acted as mediator in the push to end the Gaza war.
“I think both Jared and I felt, I just feel we felt a little bit betrayed,” Witkoff told the CBS news program “60 Minutes” in excerpts released Friday. The full interview is scheduled to air on Sunday.
At the time, the strike halted the indirect negotiating process to end the fighting in the devastated Gaza Strip, triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
“It had a metastasizing effect because the Qataris were critical to the negotiation, as were the Egyptians and the Turks,” Witkoff said.
“We had lost the confidence of the Qataris. And so Hamas went underground, and it was very, very difficult to get to them.”
Trump wrote on social media at the time that the decision to conduct the Doha air raid came from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel and Hamas ultimately accepted a 20-point peace plan presented by Trump that called for hostage and prisoner releases and a ceasefire after two years of deadly conflict.
Under pressure from Trump during a White House visit this month, Netanyahu called Qatar’s prime minister to apologize for the Doha strike.


Egypt expected to lead proposed post-war Gaza stabilization force: Diplomats

Egypt expected to lead proposed post-war Gaza stabilization force: Diplomats
Updated 18 October 2025

Egypt expected to lead proposed post-war Gaza stabilization force: Diplomats

Egypt expected to lead proposed post-war Gaza stabilization force: Diplomats
  • Washington said to favor UN mandate, without establishing full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation
  • Turkiye, Indonesia, Azerbaijan among countries being lined up as key troop contributors alongside Egypt

LONDON: Egypt is expected to take the lead in an international stabilization force being developed to oversee security inside Gaza under a proposed UN Security Council mandate backed by the US and European partners, according to diplomatic sources.

The proposed force, which would have broad powers similar to those granted to international troops in Haiti to combat armed groups, is being shaped as part of a European and US-backed UN motion, .

Washington is said to favor a UN mandate for the mission, without establishing it as a full-fledged UN peacekeeping operation.

Turkiye, Indonesia, and Azerbaijan are among the countries being lined up as key troop contributors alongside Egypt.

While no European or British troops are expected to participate, the UK has deployed advisers to a coordination unit operated by the US inside Israel, The Guardian also reported.

The unit is tasked with helping implement the second phase of a 20-point plan drafted by US President Donald Trump.

British officials have underlined that the long-term objective remains the establishment of a Palestinian state encompassing Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

The UK has already been training a contingent of Palestinian police officers, but under the new proposal the international force would take the lead on security responsibilities.

Should the operation prove effective, Israel would withdraw further from areas of Gaza, although Israeli officials insist that a significant buffer zone will remain under their control to guard against future Hamas attacks.

Diplomatic sources acknowledge that one of the most contentious elements of the plan involves the decommissioning of Hamas weapons and British officials are drawing on lessons from Northern Ireland’s peace process, where weapons controlled by both the IRA and loyalist groups were put beyond use under independent supervision.

The UK also appears to support a role for its former prime minister Tony Blair on a newly proposed “board of peace,” outlined in Trump’s plan, which would oversee the work of a 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats.

Blair’s potential appointment has drawn backing from Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, who told CNBC during a recent interview: “Tony Blair is a person acceptable to the Iraqis and a friend, having contributed to the decision to go to war with President Bush, at the time, and to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime.”
He added: “(Blair) is a great friend of the Iraqis and visits us often and I also hold meetings with him. We certainly wish him success in this mission and we will support him.”

Blair’s position on the board, which will be chaired by Trump, is expected to be confirmed by early November, ahead of a major reconstruction conference in Cairo that Egypt will host to mobilize donor and private sector funding for Gaza’s recovery.

Officials say the cost of rebuilding Gaza is estimated to exceed $67 billion, requiring not only contributions from Gulf donors but also significant private investment.

Questions remain over the precise relationship between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the proposed board.

PA Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian said her government had learned from past mistakes and was intent on reform.

Speaking at a conference in Naples organized by Italian think tank IPSI, she said one of the PA’s key initiatives was overhauling its education curriculum.

“If we develop that curriculum to the best standards of the world but children that are taught that curriculum continue to live under dire occupation, will that give them a narrative of peace? No,” she said.

“What will bring them a narrative of peace, and internalize it, is when children do not experience, on a daily basis, checkpoints, a humiliation, trees being uprooted, the farms being burned and the fathers killed.”


UN Women urges Gaza ceasefire must bring safety, recovery and rights for women and girls

UN Women urges Gaza ceasefire must bring safety, recovery and rights for women and girls
Updated 18 October 2025

UN Women urges Gaza ceasefire must bring safety, recovery and rights for women and girls

UN Women urges Gaza ceasefire must bring safety, recovery and rights for women and girls
  • Head of body warned needs of women and girls in Gaza “remain at an all-time high”

LONDON: UN Women called on Saturday for the ceasefire in Gaza to be transformed into lasting safety, recovery and rights for women and girls, urging that they be placed at the center of all humanitarian and reconstruction efforts.

“Every woman who rebuilds a bakery, a clinic or a classroom is rebuilding peace. Every dollar invested in women-led aid is a down-payment on hope,” said Sofia Calltorp, UN Women’s Chief of Humanitarian Action, during a press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

“The data is very clear on this: When we invest in women, every $1 generates an $8 return for whole communities,” she added.

Calltorp warned that the needs of women and girls in Gaza “remain at an all-time high,” noting that more than one million women and girls require food aid, and nearly a quarter of a million need urgent nutrition support.

“This ceasefire is our window to deliver, to deliver fast, to stop famine where it has begun and prevent it where it looms,” she said.

The UN official described the toll of the war on women and girls as devastating.

“For two years, women and girls in Gaza were killed at a rate of roughly two every hour. This number only defines the scale of this war, and it will haunt our collective conscience for generations,” Calltorp said.

She added that most women in Gaza have been displaced at least four times since the start of the war, describing the ceasefire as “their first chance to stop running, to find safety, and to rebuild.”

“But winter is coming, and too many still have no shelter,” she said.

According to Calltorp, one in seven families in Gaza was now led by a woman.

“They need aid that reaches them directly, so they can feed their children, access health care, rebuild livelihoods and restore some stability after losing everything,” she said.

She emphasized that both the delivery and design of humanitarian assistance must center women’s needs and voices.

“Because it’s not just about getting aid in and who it reaches, it is also about how we deliver it,” she said.

“If we do not put the humanitarian needs of women and girls at the center, and if we do not include women’s organizations in the response, in recovery, and in the work of rebuilding, then women will be excluded from the future of Gaza altogether.”

Calltorp ended her address by reaffirming UN Women’s commitment to supporting the humanitarian response in Gaza, adding: “At UN Women, we are now working side-by-side with the UN system, which is on the ground fully mobilized to scale up life-saving assistance.”


UNICEF official warns quality of humanitarian aid to Gaza is as crucial as quantity

UNICEF official warns quality of humanitarian aid to Gaza is as crucial as quantity
Updated 18 October 2025

UNICEF official warns quality of humanitarian aid to Gaza is as crucial as quantity

UNICEF official warns quality of humanitarian aid to Gaza is as crucial as quantity
  • Agency calls for emergency supply deliveries to be stepped up amid worsening shortages of food, shelter
  • Fuel, cooking gas, water, food needed urgently, senior emergency coordinator says

GAZA: A senior UNICEF official has warned that the quality of relief aid entering Gaza is as vital as its quantity, stressing the need for unrestricted access to essential supplies to meet the enclave’s mounting humanitarian needs.

Hamish Young, UNICEF’s senior emergency coordinator, who was speaking to Anadolu Agency, said: “Palestinians in Gaza need tents, plastic sheeting, and clean drinking water.”

He highlighted the urgent need for fuel and equipment necessary for water production and distribution, as well as pipes to repair wells and desalination plants.

Speaking from the road leading to the Kissufim crossing, east of Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, Young said he and his team were waiting for permission to allow in much-needed aid.

“We have 50 trucks waiting for permission to move and bring in medical supplies and hygiene items essential to save children's lives,” he said.

According to UNICEF, Israel has allowed 653 aid trucks into Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10. This number is far fewer than the 600 trucks per day agreed under the current arrangements.

On Sunday, 173 trucks were permitted to enter, including three carrying cooking gas and six with fuel. No aid entered on Monday or Tuesday, while 480 trucks were allowed through on Wednesday.

Describing conditions in Gaza as “catastrophic,” Young said all hospitals had been either destroyed or severely damaged, while residents faced severe shortages of food and shelter.

He warned that UNICEF urgently needed a “significant amount of food supplies” to address the effects of famine in northern Gaza, adding: “There is an urgent need to make every effort to bring in all these supplies I'm talking about.”

Young continued: “Children in Gaza are in dire need of this support, and we shouldn't sit and wait for these supplies.”

He called for the daily entry of “600 trucks loaded with supplies, including a full range of materials from the private sector and commercial suppliers, in addition to vital humanitarian aid provided by UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the United Nations Population Fund, and the World Health Organization.”

Young added that Gaza also needed around 50 trucks of fuel each day, including cooking gas, which he described as “critical for the population of Gaza,” adding that aid organizations needed freedom of movement throughout Gaza “so that we can deliver supplies to the most vulnerable children, and to their mothers and the families who care for them.”