Rapid Support Forces Seize Army Base in Darfur

An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
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Rapid Support Forces Seize Army Base in Darfur

An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)
An image from a clip showing commander of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, speaking to his forces on Thursday (X)

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced capturing the command of the Sudanese Army’s 15th Division, marking its full control of West Darfur and its capital, less than a week after taking over the 16th Division in Nyala and 21st Division, Central Darfur State.

The RSF said it had “liberated the 15th Infantry Division of El-Geneina,” and announced that “the remnants and coup plotters in Western Darfur have been defeated.”

On October 29, the Forces took control of the headquarters of the 16th Division, one of the largest military bastions of the Sudanese army after Khartoum.

Two days later, they captured the “21st Division, its commander, 50 senior officers, and hundreds of soldiers.

The Support Forces did not reveal how they seized the 16th and 15th Divisions. It is likely that the forces there have withdrawn from the units.

RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo referred to the withdrawal earlier in his speech. But the army did not comment on the successive fall of its headquarters in Darfur.

However, the official spokesman for the Sudanese army, Brigadier General Nabil Abdullah, had downplayed on Wednesday the Rapid Support announcement of control of the army’s garrisons and divisions in Darfur.

Abdullah stressed that the armed forces "continue with strength and determination to carry out their sacred professional duty."



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.