US Told Other Countries Palestinian Recognition Will Create More Problemshttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5182901-us-told-other-countries-palestinian-recognition-will-create-more-problems
US Told Other Countries Palestinian Recognition Will Create More Problems
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (AFP)
The United States has told other counties that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday.
“We told all these countries, we told them all, we said if you guys do this recognition stuff it's all fake, it's not even real, if you do it you're going to create problems,” Rubio said from Quito, where he met with President Daniel Noboa and his Ecuadorean counterpart, according to Reuters.
“There's going to be a response, it's going to make it harder to get a ceasefire and it may even trigger theses sorts of actions that you've seen, or at least these attempts at these actions,” Rubio said, adding he would not opine on Israeli discussion of annexation of the West Bank but that it was not final.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The countries say these moves are intended to put pressure on Israel to end its assault on Gaza, curtail the building of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and recommit to a peace process with Palestinians.
French President Emmanuel Macron, the first leader of a major Western power to endorse recognition, has said the move would be accompanied by a commitment by the Palestinian Authority to enact reforms, which would improve Palestinian governance and make the PA a more credible partner for the post-war administration of Gaza.
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.
Without a full seat at the United Nations or control of its own borders, the Palestinian Authority has only limited ability to conduct bilateral relations. There are no missions with the status of embassies in Palestinian territory, and countries cannot freely send diplomats there.
A displaced Yemeni family enters a makeshift shelter at the Al-Kod Al-Othmani displacement camp in Sheikh Othman district, Aden, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Houthi Escalation Strains Health Services, Deepens Displacement
A displaced Yemeni family enters a makeshift shelter at the Al-Kod Al-Othmani displacement camp in Sheikh Othman district, Aden, Yemen, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis is worsening as the Houthi escalation spreads, leaving more than 5,000 people dead or wounded since August, displacing about 200,000 and fueling a rise in suspected cholera and measles cases.
The United Nations is warning of gaps in care and the risk of outbreaks as health services struggle to reach the wounded and deliver emergency treatment, especially in conflict zones and displacement camps.
UN Health Cluster data show 5,166 casualties since Aug. 6, including 959 deaths. In six days alone, 685 new casualties were recorded, a daily average of 114, up from about 101 in the preceding period, signaling a continued rise in the conflict’s human toll.
Children pose for a photo in a makeshift camp for people displaced by clashes near Aden, Yemen October 7, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Taiz governorate in southwestern Yemen has become one of the deadliest fronts, with average daily casualties jumping from eight to 109 in a week as fighting moved into Taiz city. Preliminary reports also indicated casualties in Hadramout and Al-Jawf, while violence and casualties remain high in Lahj and Marib.
Displacement is adding to the strain on host communities, while shortages of trauma stabilization points and medical supplies hamper efforts to reach the wounded and meet mounting health needs.
For medical teams near the front lines, reaching the injured quickly is a critical challenge. Too few trauma stabilization points near the fighting mean precious time is lost during the “golden hour,” when urgent medical intervention can improve a wounded person’s chances of survival.
Difficulties in providing medical services on the front lines with the Houthis (local media)
First-level trauma stabilization points remain a major gap in the health response. Six of the 20 planned points still lack partner support, limiting the health system’s ability to stabilize patients and get them to operating rooms within an hour of injury.
Communications outages and security risks are also hampering efforts to track humanitarian conditions. Aid workers believe the available figures understate the actual toll, while continued fighting makes reports of attacks on health facilities difficult to verify.
Displacement camps in Yemen lack basic necessities (local media)
Displacement and outbreaks
The fallout from the Houthi escalation extends beyond the dead and wounded. About 200,000 people have been displaced, including 29,519 families across 10 governorates, with displacement rising 8% in just five days.
Lahj accounted for about two-thirds of the latest increase, underscoring the pressure on residents and host communities as fighting drives up demand for shelter, basic services and health care.
Displacement has spread further into eastern governorates, including Hadramout, Al-Mahra and Shabwa. The consolidated report lists 454 displaced families in those governorates, up from 201 on Sept. 23.
In Hadramout, the Mukalla center reported another 429 families in Al-Abr, in Wadi Hadramout, who have yet to be included in the consolidated report, suggesting the actual displacement figures are higher.
Civilians pay the price for Houthi escalation in several governorates (local media)
More than 3,600 people have also crossed into Djibouti, according to the data, extending the conflict’s humanitarian repercussions beyond Yemen.
Growing displacement and deteriorating living and health conditions are heightening fears of outbreaks as cholera and measles cases rise, immunization gaps widen and displaced children show alarming levels of acute malnutrition.
Surveillance data show suspected cholera cases nearly tripled in three weeks, reaching 647 in week 39, up from 217 in week 36.
Measles is spreading alongside cholera as displacement and overcrowding in areas hosting affected families widen immunity gaps, increasing health risks for children, especially those suffering from malnutrition.
People fleeing Houthi escalation in Taiz governorate (local media)
Malnutrition
Screenings by International Medical Corps mobile medical teams have found high levels of acute malnutrition among displaced children, offering another measure of deteriorating health and living conditions.
Of 54 displaced children under five screened, nine had severe acute malnutrition and 29 had moderate acute malnutrition, highlighting urgent nutritional and treatment needs among the most vulnerable.
At least five health facilities have run out of ready-to-use therapeutic food, and three have exhausted their stocks of supplementary food, threatening their ability to treat children most at risk of complications.
Yemen's Houthis Mobilize Blood Banks as Casualties Mounthttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5327791-yemens-houthis-mobilize-blood-banks-casualties-mount
Yemen's Houthis Mobilize Blood Banks as Casualties Mount
Houthis mobilize blood donations for hospitals packed with their wounded fighters (X)
The Houthi group has sent blood donation vehicles into streets, neighborhoods and squares across Sanaa and four Yemeni provinces over the past two days, urgently appealing for donors amid signs of rising numbers of wounded fighters following recent military developments.
Vehicles and trucks belonging to the so-called “National Blood Transfusion and Research Center” were deployed across the seized Yemeni capital and the provinces of Dhamar, Ibb, Al-Mahwit and Hodeidah in an intensive drive to mobilize residents to donate blood.
The vehicles toured densely populated areas, broadcasting appeals through loudspeakers.
Local sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the group had ordered medical workers, neighborhood officials and community leaders in the targeted provinces to mobilize residents and direct them to donation centers as fighting spread across several fronts.
The sources said Houthi-controlled health facilities were on high alert, with demand rising for various blood types. Hospitals were receiving growing numbers of wounded Houthi fighters, according to local accounts.
The Houthi-controlled National Blood Transfusion and Research Center in Sanaa (Facebook)
Residents in Sanaa and elsewhere described the heavy deployment of donation vehicles over the past two days as striking, citing repeated loudspeaker appeals urging people to visit donation points.
They linked the campaigns to recent battlefield developments and questioned the scale of injuries behind the group’s decision to expand the drive to more areas.
High alert, mounting losses
“Houthi appeals this time are more urgent than in previous campaigns,” said Qassem, a Sanaa resident.
“No one refuses to donate blood to save a human life, but the question is: Why do they keep sending people to the front lines, then ask residents to provide blood to treat the consequences of those battles?”
In Ibb, 193 kilometers south of Sanaa, resident Majdi said the intensified appeals “do not come out of nowhere.” The group was using various methods to mobilize residents, he said, without disclosing the scale of losses driving the surge in demand for blood.
“People are struggling with poverty, rising prices and deteriorating services, and now they are also being asked to bear the consequences of war and provide blood for the wounded,” he said.
In Dhamar, 100 kilometers south of Sanaa, sources and residents reported that blood donation vehicles from the center’s local branch were operating in several city neighborhoods, alongside urgent appeals for donors.
They said growing numbers of wounded Houthi fighters continued to arrive at hospitals, particularly Dhamar General Hospital, putting further pressure on health facilities.
In Al-Mahwit and Hodeidah in the west, local sources said turnout was initially very low. The group then expanded the campaigns to government institutions and private establishments, urging employees and workers to donate.
Houthi vehicles used loudspeakers to urge residents to donate blood (Facebook)
The sources described the campaigns as part of a wider state of high alert. Their timing, alongside military developments, reinforced residents’ belief that large numbers of wounded fighters urgently needed blood.
Residents in Houthi-controlled areas, meanwhile, face deteriorating health services and shortages of medicines and medical supplies.
They are calling for treatment services that meet civilians’ needs, rather than further burdens on facilities already stretched by limited resources.
26 Women, 4 Children Killed in Sudan RSF Drone Strikehttps://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5327771-26-women-4-children-killed-sudan-rsf-drone-strike
FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
26 Women, 4 Children Killed in Sudan RSF Drone Strike
FILE PHOTO: A collapsed mosque wall following a drone strike in Khartoum North, in Bahri city, Sudan, August 12, 2026. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
A drone strike launched by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces killed 26 women and four children on Friday near the southeastern border with Ethiopia, an official and eyewitnesses told AFP.
The latest front line in Sudan's war between the regular army and the RSF is the border region with Ethiopia, which is facing its own internal conflict that threatens to escalate into a regional war.
Since Sudan's war broke out in April 2023, it has killed more than 200,000 people, aid workers estimate, and created the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.
This year alone, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced across Blue Nile state, according to UN figures.
In a displacement camp in Blue Nile's Abu Shendi, survivors "buried 26 women and four children" from Friday's strike, one person involved in the burial told AFP.
The drone hit just outside the camp, near an informal gold mining site, where women earn a daily wage using chemicals and their bare hands to clear gold nuggets from clumps of earth men have extracted.
The victims included "young girls who work with their families in refining the gold", another eyewitness said.
The country's multi-billion-dollar gold trade, built mostly on makeshift operations like Abu Shendi's, fuels the war efforts of both sides.
Mahgoub al-Sheikh, the governor of Wad al-Mahi where the attack took place, said the drone was launched from "inside Ethiopia".
Sudan has repeatedly accused Ethiopia of harboring RSF fighters and bases within its territory.
Ethiopia has denied the accusations, though local sources say the porous border is a key supply line for the paramilitary and its allies.
Throughout this year, the RSF has pushed an offensive approaching state capital El-Damazin.
The advance could put the army in a bind, forcing it to defend territory on both the Blue Nile front and in the Kordofan region, where a year of deadly drone strikes has left the two sides in a stalemate.
The Sudan war, now in its fourth year, has evolved into an ever more sophisticated conflict using armed drones, enabling both sides to launch far-reaching attacks without sacrificing their fighters.
More than 1,100 people were killed by drone strikes during the first five months of this year alone, according to UN figures.
The conflict, which the UN calls a "war of atrocities", has visited a litany of horrors on civilians including ethnic massacres, famine and indiscriminate attacks on residential areas.
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