ICC Urges Sudan’s Military Council to Hand Over Bashir

File photo of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
File photo of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
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ICC Urges Sudan’s Military Council to Hand Over Bashir

File photo of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir
File photo of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, on Wednesday urged Sudan's transitional authorities to hand over ousted President Omar al-Bashir and several others on their war crimes in Darfur.

"Now is the time for the people of Sudan to choose law over impunity and ensure that the ICC suspects in the Darfur situation finally face justice in a court of law," Bensouda told the UN security Council in New York.

“Now the Council has also been presented with a unique opportunity to decisively and effectively address the impunity that has plagued Darfur.”

She also expressed concern over “reports of recent violence perpetrated against civilians, including alleged sexual and gender-based crimes.”

“It is imperative that allegations of violence against civilians, including sexual and gender-based violence, are promptly and effectively investigated by the Sudanese authorities, and that those responsible are brought to justice,” Bensouda told Council members.

“Within the scope of my mandate and jurisdiction under the Rome Statute, I am committed to continuing to do all that I can to secure accountability in Sudan,” she said.

She stressed that all five ICC arrest warrants in the Darfur situation remain in force despite a dramatic change in circumstances.

“Bashir has been deposed, arrested, detained and charged with domestic offenses. Two other suspects in the Darfur situation, Messrs Abdel Raheem Hussein and Ahmad Harun are also reportedly detained in Khartoum,” she said.

“Sudan remains under a legal obligation to transfer these suspects to the ICC to stand trial, unless it can demonstrate to the Judges of the International Criminal Court that it is willing and able to genuinely prosecute them for the same cases,” Bensouda said.

“Consistent with the bedrock principle of complementarity enshrined in the Rome Statute, I am ready to engage in dialogue with the authorities in Sudan to ensure that the Darfur suspects face independent and impartial justice, either in a courtroom in The Hague, or in Sudan,” she added.

As for Mark Simonoff, Minister Counselor of the US Mission to the United Nations, he condemned the Transitional Military Council’s “reprehensible attacks on demonstrators in Khartoum" which have led to over 100 deaths and hundreds injured.

“Reports of security forces beating and sexually assaulting protesters, and throwing victims into the Nile must be fully and fairly investigated,” he said.

“The TMC’s grotesque display of violence against peaceful demonstrators in Khartoum was not an isolated incident. The government has also used excessive violence against internally displaced people in Darfur to stop peaceful rallies,” he added.



One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
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One in 10 Children Screened in UNRWA Clinics are Malnourished

Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

One in 10 children screened in clinics run by the United Nations refugee agency in Gaza since 2024 has been malnourished, the agency said on Tuesday.

"Our health teams are confirming that malnutrition rates are increasing in Gaza, especially since the siege was tightened more than four months ago on the second of March," UNRWA's Director of Communications, Juliette Touma, told reporters in Geneva via a video link from Amman, Jordan.

Since January 2024, UNRWA said it had screened more than 240,000 boys and girls under the age of five in its clinics, adding that before the war, acute malnutrition was rarely seen in the Gaza Strip.

"One nurse that we spoke to told us that in the past, he only saw these cases of malnutrition in textbooks and documentaries," Reuters quoted Touma as saying.

"Medicine, nutrition supplies, hygiene material, fuel are all rapidly running out," Touma said.

On May 19, Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume. However, UNRWA continues to be banned from bringing aid into the enclave.

Israel and the United States have accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of stealing from UN-led aid operations - which Hamas denies. They have instead set up the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, which the UN has refused to work with.

On Monday, UNICEF said that last month more than 5,800 children were diagnosed with malnutrition in Gaza, including more than 1,000 children with severe, acute malnutrition. It said it was an increase for the fourth month in a row.