US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deteriorating

People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
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US State Dept: Gaza Humanitarian Situation Still Deteriorating

People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
People look on from a viewpoint overlooking the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Sderot, Israel, May 16, 2024. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The United States said on Thursday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate and urged Israel to do more to allow sustained access for aid via southern and northern part of the enclave.
Speaking at a daily news briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington continued to remain concerned that both travel and the flow of fuel into Gaza via Rafah crossing has "come to a complete halt."

The Gaza death toll has risen to 35,272, health officials in the Hamas-run coastal enclave said, and malnutrition is widespread with international aid efforts blocked by the violence and Israel's de-facto shutdowns of its Kerem Shalom crossing and the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israel's tanks pushed into the heart of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, while in the south, its forces pounded Rafah without advancing.



Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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Sudan’s RSF Kill More Than 30 in a New Attack on a Darfur City, Activists Say 

People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)
People displaced following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp shelter in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. (Reuters)

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a city in the western Darfur region, killing more than 30 people, an activist group said, in the latest deadly offensive on an area that is home to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The RSF and allied militias launched an offensive on el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur province, on Sunday, according to the Resistance Committees, an activist group. Dozens of other people were wounded in the attack, said the group, which tracks the war.

The RSF renewed its attack on Monday, shelling residential buildings and open markets in the city, the group said. There was no immediate comment from the RSF.

El-Fasher, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, is under the control of the military, which has fought the RSF since Sudan descended into civil war more than two years ago, killing more than 24,000 people, according to the United Nations, though activists say the number is likely far higher.

The RSF has been attempting to seize el-Fasher for a year to complete its control of the entire Darfur region. Since then, it has launched many attacks on the city and two major famine-hit camps for displaced people on its outskirts.

The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the ongoing war and previous bouts of violence in Darfur.

The attacks on el-Fasher have intensified in recent months as the RSF suffered battlefield setbacks in Khartoum and other urban areas in the county’s east and center.

Sunday’s violence came less than a week after a two-day attack by the RSF and its allied militias on the city and the Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps killed more than 400 people, according to the United Nations.

Last week’s attack forced up to 400,000 people to flee the Zamzam camp, Sudan’s largest, which has become inaccessible to aid workers, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.