UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
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UN Condemns Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya

 Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid
Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip October 20, 2024. REUTERS/Abdul Karim Farid

The UN peace envoy for the Middle East on Sunday condemned the continued attacks on civilians after Israeli airstrikes in Gaza's Beit Lahiya killed dozens late on Saturday.

"This follows weeks of intensified operations resulting in scores of civilian fatalities and near total lack of humanitarian aid reaching populations in the north," said Tor Wennesland, the UN Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.

For his part, civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said: "Our civil defense crews recovered 73 martyrs and a large number of wounded as a result of the Israeli air force targeting a residential area... in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza."

Bassal also said that more than 400 martyrs from the various targeted areas in the northern Gaza Strip were recovered, including Jabalia and its refugee camp, since Israel's operation began.

"More than a year has passed, and every day our blood is shed," displaced Gazan Nasser Shaqura said outside a hospital in Deir el-Balah, where victims of an Israeli air strike were taken.

"Every day, every hour, there is a massacre," he said.

"This is what our lives have become."



Sudanese Army Reports First Defection of Senior RSF Commander

Members of the Sudanese army during a military parade (File Photo- AFP)
Members of the Sudanese army during a military parade (File Photo- AFP)
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Sudanese Army Reports First Defection of Senior RSF Commander

Members of the Sudanese army during a military parade (File Photo- AFP)
Members of the Sudanese army during a military parade (File Photo- AFP)

Sudan's army said on Sunday a commander from its foe the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had defected with some of his troops, in what would be the first such move by a senior figure since the sides started fighting more than 18 months ago.

There was no immediate comment from the RSF which has seized control of large parts of the country in a conflict with the military that the UN says has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Supporters of the army posted photos online purporting to show Abuagla Keikal - a former army officer who became the RSF's top commander in the southeastern state of El Gezira - after he had defected.

The army, which has recently reported gains against the RSF in parts of the capital, said Keikal had decided to make the move because of his former force's "destructive agenda".

It did not go into further detail and there was no statement, in print or on video, from Keikal, Reuters reported.

The conflict has displaced more than 10 million people, driven parts of the country to extreme hunger or famine, and drawn in foreign powers that have supplied both sides with material support.

It began in April 2023 when tensions between the RSF and the army, who had been jostling for position ahead of an internationally backed transition to civilian rule, erupted into open conflict.

The army and the RSF had previously shared power after staging a coup in 2021, two years after veteran autocrat Omar al-Bashir was toppled in a