Civilian Groups Demand Int’l Intervention to Stop Violations in Sudan

Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
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Civilian Groups Demand Int’l Intervention to Stop Violations in Sudan

Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)
Smoke billows from fighting in Khartoum, Sudan. (AFP file)

The Sudanese Coordination of Civil Democratic Forces (Tagadum) condemned on Tuesday the army’s series of strikes on a number of regions in the country that left nearly 500 people dead.

The military carried out raids on the central city of al-Hasaheisa in the al-Jazirah state, Hamra al-Sheikh in North Kordofan, and Kutum and Mellit in North Darfur. Meanwhile, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fired artillery at the army-held region of al-Hatana in Omdurman.

The Emergency Lawyers group said around 100 people, including women and children, were killed in the army raids on al-Hasaheisa.

It strongly condemned the strikes on al-Jazirah, Sennar, White Nile, West and North Darfur and North Kordofan, deeming the continued attacks a war crime and flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.

It called on the international community to intervene immediately to stop the violations, save civilian lives and pressure the army to stop targeting markets and other civilian areas.

The army says it is targeting RSF locations. The RSF, meanwhile, says it is using artillery to attack army units. However, witnesses and videos shot by the people, contradict the claims, with the recordings showing the corpse of women, children and the elderly in areas that are being targeted by the warring parties.

The National Umma Party, one of Sudan’s largest parties, slammed in a statement on Tuesday the “horrific” violations in the war, demanding the army and RSF to fulfill their past commitments – a reference to the Jeddah Humanitarian Declaration signed in May 2023 through Saudi and American mediation.

Tagadum regretted that the warring parties continue to target civilians, calling on them to “seriously and sincerely” return to negotiations to end the war and suffering of the people.



Israeli Army Forces Patients Out of a North Gaza Hospital, Medics Say

 A Palestinian man walks with children in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on December 24, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
A Palestinian man walks with children in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on December 24, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
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Israeli Army Forces Patients Out of a North Gaza Hospital, Medics Say

 A Palestinian man walks with children in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on December 24, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)
A Palestinian man walks with children in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on December 24, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (AFP)

Israeli troops forced the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City, the territory's health ministry said on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Hospital is one of the Gaza Strip's few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.

Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital - Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia - is targeting Hamas fighters.

Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.

Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, said the Israeli army had ordered hospital officials to evacuate it on Monday, before storming it in the early hours of Tuesday and forcing those inside to leave.

He said two other medical facilities in northern Gaza, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, were also subject to frequent assaults by Israeli troops operating in the area.

"Occupation forces have taken the three hospitals out of medical service because of the repeated attacks that undermined them and destroyed parts of them," Bursh said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Officials at the three hospitals have so far refused orders by Israel to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since the new military offensive began on Oct. 5.

Israel says it has been facilitating the delivery of medical supplies, fuel and the transfer of patients to other hospitals in the enclave during that period in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.

Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said they resisted a new order by the army to evacuate hundreds of patients, their companions and staff, adding that the hospital has been under constant Israeli fire that damaged generators, oxygen pumps and parts of the building.

Israeli forces have operated in the vicinity of the hospital since Monday, medics said.

NEW STRIKES

Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and medics said at least nine Palestinians, including a member of the civil emergency service, were killed in four separate military strikes across the enclave on Tuesday.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's campaign against Hamas has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.

A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.

Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials' remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.