Health Ministry: 22 Killed in Airstrike on Sudan's Omdurman

Displaced people who fled the ongoing violence, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter, in al-Hasaheisa south of Khartoum on July 8,2023. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced people who fled the ongoing violence, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter, in al-Hasaheisa south of Khartoum on July 8,2023. (Photo by AFP)
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Health Ministry: 22 Killed in Airstrike on Sudan's Omdurman

Displaced people who fled the ongoing violence, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter, in al-Hasaheisa south of Khartoum on July 8,2023. (Photo by AFP)
Displaced people who fled the ongoing violence, gather in a room inside the university of al-Jazira, transformed into a makeshift shelter, in al-Hasaheisa south of Khartoum on July 8,2023. (Photo by AFP)

At least 22 people were killed and scores injured in an airstrike by Sudan's army on western Omdurman, the Khartoum state health ministry said on Saturday.
While the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) quickly dominated the capital Khartoum and its sister cities Omdurman and Bahri after fighting broke out on April 15, the army has launched air and artillery strikes.
At least 1,133 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the federal health ministry, which has flared in the capital and the Kordofan and Darfur regions, sparking ethnic violence in West Darfur state.
More than 2.9 million people have been uprooted, including nearly 700,000 who have fled into neighboring countries.
Fighting has focused on Omdurman in recent days, as the western part of the city is a key supply route for the RSF to bring reinforcements in from Darfur, its power base.
Strikes, including overnight on Friday, have also centered on the country's state broadcasting complex in eastern Omdurman. Other overnight strikes hit southern and eastern Khartoum.
The army said in a post on Facebook that special forces had killed 20 "rebel soldiers" and destroyed their weaponry.



Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Netanyahu: Israel Retains Right to Resume Gaza Fighting

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel retains the right to resume war in Gaza with US backing should the second stage of the ceasefire prove pointless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.

"If we must return to fighting we will do that in new, forceful ways," Netanyahu said in a video statement.

"President (Donald) Trump and President (Joe) Biden have given full backing to Israel's right to return to combat if Israel concludes that negotiations on Phase B are futile," he said.

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel will go into effect Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time (0630 GMT), mediator Qatar announced Saturday, as families of hostages held in Gaza braced for news of loved ones, Palestinians prepared to receive freed detainees and humanitarian groups rushed to set up a surge of aid.
The prime minister had warned earlier that a ceasefire wouldn’t go forward unless Israel received the names of hostages to be released, as had been agreed.

The pause in 15 months of war is a step toward ending the deadliest, most destructive fighting ever between Israel and the Hamas militant group — and comes more than a year after the only other ceasefire achieved. The deal was achieved under joint pressure from Trump and the outgoing administration of President Biden ahead of Monday's inauguration.
The first phase of the ceasefire will last 42 days, and negotiations on the far more difficult second phase are meant to begin just over two weeks in. After those six weeks, Israel’s security Cabinet will decide how to proceed.
Israeli airstrikes continued Saturday, and Gaza's Health Ministry said 23 bodies had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.