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Hamas Presses Abbas to Issue Elections Decree

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
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Hamas Presses Abbas to Issue Elections Decree

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Reuters)

Celebrating the 32nd anniversary of its founding, Hamas said it was ready for Palestinian elections, reconciliation and ending divisions with the Palestinian Authorities in the West Bank.

The Hamas leadership announced at a large public rally in the central Gaza Strip that it had finished forming the preparatory committee for the elections and was ready to participate immediately.

Other than expressing initiative to partake in upcoming elections, the group has been exerting heavy media pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to issue the election decree.

“We are pushing for Palestinian reunification, and we have made dozens of concessions for the sake of the country and for our people to complete reconciliation. And they are ready to appeal to the Palestinian street through the general elections,” said Hamas official Osama Al-Muzaini.

He also stressed the need to reconcile and end all divisions.

Member of the Hamas political bureau, Hussam Badran said that the group has reacted positively to Abbas’ invite to elections.

In a broadcast statement, Badran further pressured the PA head to issue an election decree.

He pointed out that there is a general Palestinian position that desires “guarantees for the freedom of elections and for the recognition of results.”

Separately, PA security forces arrested dozens of Hamas supporters in the West Bank in the past few days.

At least 66 Hamas supporters have been arrested or summoned for interrogation by PA security forces in recent days, according to Hamas spokesman Abdel Rahman Shadid.

Even though Hamas has welcomed Abbas’s initiative, saying it was planning to participate in the upcoming elections Shadid said that the PA campaign against Hamas supporters does not bode well for the prospects of holding a free and fair vote.

Hamas official Hazem Qassem said the crackdown was “a continuation of the Palestinian Authority’s delusion that it can uproot the presence of Hamas in the West Bank.” He urged the PA to halt “this national and moral crime, and create the appropriate atmosphere for free and fair elections.”

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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Sudan's RSF Conducts First Drone Attack on Port Sudan

Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Smoke rises from the airport of Port Sudan following reported attacks early on May 4, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carried out a drone attack on a military air base and other facilities in the vicinity of Port Sudan Airport, a Sudanese army spokesperson said on Sunday, in the first RSF attack to reach the eastern port city.
No casualties were reported from the attacks, the spokesperson said.
The RSF has not commented on the incident, Reuters said.
The RSF has targeted power stations in army-controlled locations in central and northern Sudan for the past several months but the strikes had not inflicted heavy casualties.
The drone attack on Port Sudan indicates a major shift in the two-year conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF. The eastern regions, which shelter a large number of displaced people, had so far avoided bombardment.
The army has responded by beefing up its deployment around vital facilities in Port Sudan and has closed roads leading to the presidential palace and army command.
Port Sudan, home to the country's primary airport, army headquarters and a seaport, has been perceived as the safest place in the war-ravaged nation.
In March, the army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, but the paramilitary RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated its position in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones.
The conflict between the army and the RSF has unleashed waves of ethnic violence and created what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with several areas plunged into famine.
The war erupted in April 2023 amid a power struggle between the army and RSF ahead of a planned transition to civilian rule. It ruined much of Khartoum, uprooted more than 12 million Sudanese from their homes and left about half of the 50 million population suffering from acute hunger.
Overall deaths are hard to estimate but a study published last year said the toll may have reached 61,000 in Khartoum state alone in the first 14 months of the conflict.