Israel Carries Out Biggest Ramallah Raid in Years

Israeli troops raid the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on March 4, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli troops raid the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on March 4, 2024. (AFP)
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Israel Carries Out Biggest Ramallah Raid in Years

Israeli troops raid the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on March 4, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli troops raid the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, on March 4, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli forces raided the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank overnight, killing a 16-year-old in a refugee camp during their biggest such operation into the city in years, Palestinian sources said on Monday.

The Israeli military said security forces had conducted a counter-terrorism operation in the camp during which a riot broke out, with rocks and petrol bombs thrown at soldiers, who responded with live fire.

In a separate West Bank raid, Israeli forces killed a 10-year-old boy and in the village of Burin, south of Nablus, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Citing medical sources, it said the boy had been shot in the head by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Violence has surged across the West Bank in parallel to the Gaza war, with at least 400 Palestinians killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers and settlers, and Israel regularly raiding Palestinian areas across the territory it occupied in 1967.

Witnesses in Ramallah said the Israeli forces had driven dozens of military vehicles into the city, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas which exercises limited self-rule over parts of the West Bank.

The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces shot and killed 16-year-old Mustafa Abu Shalbak while raiding Al-Amari refugee camp.

WAFA reported confrontations broke out as Israeli forces stormed the camp, "during which live bullets were fired at Palestinian youths", wounding Abu Shalbak in the neck and chest.

The Israeli military said security forces had conducted a six hour-long operation in the camp, apprehending two wanted suspects, questioning others and seizing "inciting material spread by Hamas".

"During the operation, a violent riot developed, in which suspects hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security forces, who responded with live fire. A hit was identified," it said.

An Israeli border police officer was lightly injured during the exchanges.

‘Unbearable hell’

The Palestinian foreign ministry said Israeli occupation authorities were making lives of Palestinians in the West Bank "an unbearable hell" with actions including raids, detentions, and movement restrictions, warning of "serious risks" of plunging the West Bank into "violence and anarchy".

Israeli forces also tore up a main road by the Nur Shams refugee camp in the Tulkarm area of the West Bank, witnesses said.

"Every time they enter the camp they destroy more than the previous time," said Ibrahim Hamarsheh, a resident of the camp who heads the Tulkarm branch of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, which advocates for Palestinians in Israeli jails.

He said Israeli forces had also bulldozed roads in the camp.

WAFA also reported that Israeli forces had stormed the city of Nablus, and blew up the home of a man previously accused by Israel of carrying out an attack in which a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters were killed in April in the West Bank.

The man, Moaz al-Masri, was killed by Israeli forces in Nablus last May.

Israeli forces detained at least 55 Palestinians in raids across the West Bank overnight, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.



Sudan, Russia Agree on Port Sudan Naval Base

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
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Sudan, Russia Agree on Port Sudan Naval Base

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (R) and his Sudanese counterpart Ali Yusuf al-Sharif shake hands during press conference in Moscow, on February 12, 2025. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov / POOL / AFP)

Sudan and Russia have reached a final agreement on the establishment of a Russian naval base in Port Sudan on the Red Sea, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Yusuf al-Sharif announced on Wednesday.

The plan has been discussed for years but never materialized due to the volatile security situation in Sudan.

The deal allows Russia to set up a naval base with up to 300 Russian troops, and to simultaneously keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in the strategic Port Sudan.

“There are no obstacles, we are in complete agreement,” Sharif said following talks in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

He did not elaborate on the terms of the current agreement, and whether the two sides had introduced new amendments to the deal reached between the two countries in 2017.

Lavrov avoided mentioning the military base, but said that during the meeting with Sharif, both sides paid special attention to the war in Sudan.

“We are interested in normalizing the situation in this friendly country, our good traditional partner in Africa, as soon as possible,” the Russian FM said.

“We reaffirmed our principled position on the need for an early cessation of hostilities along with the launch of a national dialogue, which should include representatives of all political, ethnic and religious groups in Sudan,” Lavrov said.

He noted that according to Sharif, the Sudanese leadership published two days ago a roadmap that should pave the way for progress in this direction.

Last December, Russia's embassy in Sudan refuted media reports alleging that the Sudanese authorities refused to host a Russian naval logistics support base.

Earlier in June, Mohamed Siraj, Sudan’s Ambassador to Russia, reaffirmed his country’s dedication to constructing a Russian naval base on the Red Sea.

In 2017, Khartoum and Moscow agreed during a visit by Sudan's ousted former president Omar al-Bashir to Moscow, to establish the base. But in 2021, weeks after Khartoum decided to freeze the deal, Moscow rushed to approve the binding agreement to establish the base in Sudan by passing it through all the legal mechanisms.

Russian President Vladimir Putin referred the agreement to the State Duma for ratification, in the second step of the final approval of the agreement after the Russian government formally ratified it a week earlier.

The Sudanese leadership had informed Moscow of its official position to freeze the deal through military and diplomatic channels.

A Russian source told Asharq Al-Awsat at the time that after referring the document to the Duma and Senate, Moscow is seeking to give it full legal force. This will allow Russia to negotiate later with Sudan to introduce some amendments.

Meanwhile in the Sudanese capital, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohamed Othman al-Hussein said that “Khartoum intends to review the agreement,” noting that it was approved by the previous government and not the parliament.

Despite Sudan’s position, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the agreement remains binding for both parties because it was signed on July 23, 2019, by the representative of the Transitional Military Council, that is, after the change of the political system in Sudan.

Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that the document has not yet been ratified by the Sudanese party because there is currently no legislative authority in the country with such powers.
Zakharova hinted at Russia’s readiness to show flexibility in revising the text of the agreement and said Moscow was interested in strengthening cooperation with Khartoum.
She explained that even before the agreement enters into force, changes can be introduced to its text at the discretion of both parties.

The agreement stipulates establishing a logistics center for the Russian fleet on the coast of Sudan in the Red Sea. It grants Russia the right to use an operational logistic center in Port Sudan, provided that the maximum number of working personnel does not exceed 300 soldiers, and no more than four Russian warships will be able to stay there at one time.
The agreement is valid for 25 years, with the possibility of extension.