Rubio Says Immediate US Goal on Sudan is Cessation of Hostilities into New Year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers in the ear of President Donald Trump during a roundtable about Antifa in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers in the ear of President Donald Trump during a roundtable about Antifa in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025
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Rubio Says Immediate US Goal on Sudan is Cessation of Hostilities into New Year

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers in the ear of President Donald Trump during a roundtable about Antifa in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio whispers in the ear of President Donald Trump during a roundtable about Antifa in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) / AFP PICTURES OF THE YEAR 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said Washington's immediate goal on Sudan is a cessation of hostilities going into the new year that allows humanitarian organizations to deliver assistance.

Rubio, speaking to reporters at a news conference, said that Washington was engaging with the parties involved. "We've had the right and appropriate conversations with ‌all sides of this ‌conflict, because that is their ‌leverage. ⁠Without their support, ‌neither side can continue. So that's why we need to engage, and that's why we've engaged the parties involved in all of this," Rubio said.
"We think that outside actors have the leverage and the influence over the players on the ground to bring about this humanitarian truce, and we are very focused ⁠on it.

I had a conversation on it yesterday. We have spoken to ‌the UAE, we've spoken to Saudi, we've ‍spoken to Egypt," he added.
US ‍President Donald Trump said last week he would intervene ‍to stop the conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023 out of a power struggle and has triggered famine, ethnic killings and mass displacement in Sudan, Reuters said.
Previous efforts led by the US, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have failed to bear fruit. The group submitted ⁠a proposal to the two forces in September.
Sudan this month once again topped a watchlist of global humanitarian crises released by the International Rescue Committee aid organization, as warring sides press on with the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people.
More than 12 million people have already been displaced by the ongoing war in the African nation, where humanitarian workers lack resources to help those ‌fleeing, many of whom have been raped, robbed or bereaved by the violence.



Morocco Evacuates 50,000 as Flooding Threatens City After Weeks of Heavy Rain

Flooding in Ksar el-Kebir, Morocco, 01 February 2026, amid ongoing heavy rainfall and rising water levels in the Loukkos River. (EPA)
Flooding in Ksar el-Kebir, Morocco, 01 February 2026, amid ongoing heavy rainfall and rising water levels in the Loukkos River. (EPA)
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Morocco Evacuates 50,000 as Flooding Threatens City After Weeks of Heavy Rain

Flooding in Ksar el-Kebir, Morocco, 01 February 2026, amid ongoing heavy rainfall and rising water levels in the Loukkos River. (EPA)
Flooding in Ksar el-Kebir, Morocco, 01 February 2026, amid ongoing heavy rainfall and rising water levels in the Loukkos River. (EPA)

Morocco has evacuated more than 50,000 people, nearly half the population of the northwestern city of Ksar el-Kebir, as flooding driven by weeks of heavy rain threatened to inundate the city, state media said on Monday.

"The city has become a ghost town," local resident Hicham Ajttou told Reuters by phone. "All markets and shops are closed and most residents have either left voluntarily or been evacuated."

Authorities set up shelters and temporary camps and ‌barred entry into ‌Ksar el-Kebir as rising water ‌levels ⁠in the ‌Loukkos River spread across several neighborhoods. Only departures from the city were permitted, while electricity was cut in parts of it and schools were ordered to remain closed until Saturday.

Officials said the floods were partly triggered by water released from the nearby Oued Makhazine dam, which ⁠had reached full capacity. Ksar el-Kebir lies about 190 km (120 miles) ‌north of Rabat.

Ajttou said he moved his ‍family to Tangier last ‍week and returned to Ksar el-Kebir to volunteer ‍in relief efforts.

"The question that worries us is what comes next. The dam is full and we don't know how long this situation will last," he said.

The army has deployed rescue units, trucks, equipment and medics to support evacuation and rescue operations and buses evacuated ⁠people from the city.

State TV Al Oula showed a helicopter rescuing four people trapped by rising waters in Oued Ouargha in the nearby province of Ouezzane.

Further south, rising levels of the Sebou River prompted authorities to evacuate several villagers in Sidi Kacem and reinforce riverbanks with sandbags and barriers.

The heavy rainfall has brought an end to a seven-year drought that pushed Morocco to invest heavily in desalination plants. The national dam-filling rate ‌is now close to 62%, with several major reservoirs reaching full capacity, according to official data.


Halt to MSF Work Will Be ‘Catastrophic’ for People of Gaza, Warns MSF Chief

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP)
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Halt to MSF Work Will Be ‘Catastrophic’ for People of Gaza, Warns MSF Chief

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP)

Israel's ban on Doctors Without Borders' humanitarian operation in Gaza spells deeper catastrophe for the Palestinian territory's people, the head of the medical charity told AFP on Monday.

Israel announced on Sunday that it was terminating all the activities in Gaza and the West Bank by the organization, known by its French acronym MSF, after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.

MSF slammed the move, which takes effect on March 1, as a "pretext" to obstruct aid.

"This is a decision that was made by the Israeli government to restrict humanitarian assistance into Gaza and the West Bank at the most critical time for Palestinians," MSF secretary-general Christopher Lockyear warned in an interview with AFP at the charity's Geneva headquarters.

"We are at a moment where Palestinian people need more humanitarian assistance, not less," he said. "Ceasing MSF activities is going to be catastrophic for the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank".

MSF has been a key provider of medical and humanitarian aid in Gaza, particularly since war broke out after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

The charity says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in the territory and operates around 20 health centers.

In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations, treated more than 100,000 trauma cases and assisted more than 10,000 infant deliveries.

It also provided more than 700 million liters of water, Lockyear pointed out.

- 'Impossible choice' -

Israel announced in December that it planned to prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from working in Gaza for failing to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees. The move drew widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.

It had alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian armed groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the medical charity vehemently denies.

"If Israel has any evidence of such things, then they should share that evidence," Lockyear said, insisting that "there's been no proof given to us".

He decried "an orchestrated campaign to delegitimize us", calling on other countries to defend efforts to bring desperately-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"They should be speaking to Israel, pressuring Israel to ensure that there is a reverse of any banning of humanitarian organizations."

Lockyear said MSF, which counts around 1,100 staff inside Gaza, had been trying to engage with Israeli authorities for nearly a year over the requested lists.

But it had been left with "an impossible choice", he said.

"We've been forced to choose between the safety and security of our staff and being able to reach patients."

- 'Can only get worse' -

The organization said it decided not to hand over staff names "because Israeli authorities failed to provide the concrete assurances required to guarantee our staff's safety, protect their personal data, and uphold the independence of our medical operation".

Lockyear insisted that was a "very rational" decision, pointing out that 15 MSF staff had been killed in Gaza during the war, out of more than 500 humanitarian workers and more than 1,700 medical workers killed in the Strip.

Lockyear highlighted that without independent humanitarian organizations in Gaza, an already "catastrophic" situation "can only get worse".

"We need to increase massively the humanitarian assistance that's going into Gaza," he said, "not restrict it, not block it."


Palestinian Patients Arriving in Egypt via Rafah Crossing, Says Health Official

UN vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
UN vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Palestinian Patients Arriving in Egypt via Rafah Crossing, Says Health Official

UN vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
UN vehicle escorts a bus carrying Palestinian patients in Khan Younis as they head to the Rafah crossing, leaving the Gaza Strip for medical treatment abroad, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians patients and war-wounded began arriving in Egypt via the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on Monday, an Egyptian health official told AFP.

"They have begun arriving in Egyptian ambulances, accompanied by several escorts," the official at the border said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

"Three ambulances have arrived so far carrying a number of the sick and injured, who were immediately screened upon arrival to determine to which hospital they will be transferred."

According to The AP News, Monday’s opening is a key step in the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas but mostly symbolic as few Palestinians will be allowed to cross in either direction daily. No goods will pass through.

About 20,000 Palestinian children and adults needing medical care hope to leave devastated Gaza via the crossing, according to Gaza health officials.

Thousands of other Palestinians outside the territory hope to enter and return home.

The crossing had been closed since Israeli troops seized it in May 2024.

The number of travelers is expected to increase over time if the system is successful. Israel has said it and Egypt will vet people for exit and entry.