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Israeli Plane Carrying Medical Aid Lands in Sudan

The scene after two planes collided is seen at Khartoum Airport, Sudan October 3, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. GAMIL BANNA/via REUTERS
The scene after two planes collided is seen at Khartoum Airport, Sudan October 3, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. GAMIL BANNA/via REUTERS
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Israeli Plane Carrying Medical Aid Lands in Sudan

The scene after two planes collided is seen at Khartoum Airport, Sudan October 3, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. GAMIL BANNA/via REUTERS
The scene after two planes collided is seen at Khartoum Airport, Sudan October 3, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. GAMIL BANNA/via REUTERS

A private Israeli jet landed at Khartoum airport on Tuesday and returned to Tel Aviv the same day, Israeli sources confirmed despite an official denial from Sudan.

The Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Aharonoth said that the private plane with the registration number N84UP, was previously used to transfer money from Doha to Tel Aviv. The sums were then transported by armored vehicle to the Gaza Strip and received by a Hamas representative.

Earlier, Israeli Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Shimon Aran reported that an Israeli private plane landed at Khartoum International Airport on Tuesday morning.

Later, Ynet website detailed the plane’s itinerary saying it set out from Tel Aviv towards Eilat airport at 9 am Tuesday, then flew over the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea, and passed the Egyptian airspace. The jet entered Sudan airspace and landed at Khartoum airport, two hours after takeoff.

Sources in Tel Aviv said that the Israeli plane carried medicine and medical equipment to help the country confront the coronavirus outbreak.

They indicated that officials decided to send the plane to help treat the advisor to Sudan's leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Najwa Gadaheldam, who contracted the virus and died early Wednesday from complications stemming from the coronavirus.

Gadaheldam was instrumental in fostering relations between Tel Aviv and Khartoum after she sponsored the meeting between Burhan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Kampala earlier this year.

Yedioth Aharonoth related the reports about the plane with Netanyahu’s statement during a cabinet meeting that he called officials, including Burhan and Gadaheldam, to congratulate them on Eid al-Fitr.

Netanyahu stated that Sudan is witnessing a shift in its relations with Israel, recalling his February 3 meeting with Burhan at the invitation of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Khartoum International Airport spokesman Mohamed Mahdi Abdoun issued a statement denying claims about the arrival of the Israeli plane.

Abdoun asserted that no Israeli jet landed at the airport and there are no scheduled flights at the facility, stating that Sudan’s airspace has been closed to all commercial flights since the spread of the coronavirus.

Sudanese Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier General Amer Muhammad al-Hassan also denied that an Israeli plane had landed at Khartoum airport, asserting in a Facebook post that a plane arrived from Turkey carrying medical aid.

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Arab World

Germany Moves Troops Out of Iraq, Citing Mideast 'Tensions'

FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
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Germany Moves Troops Out of Iraq, Citing Mideast 'Tensions'

FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
FILE PHOTO: German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen visits the Transport Helicopter Regiment 30 (Transporthubschrauberregiment 30) at the Hermann-Koehl-Kaserne in Niederstetten, Germany, August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

Germany's military has "temporarily" moved some troops out of Erbil in northern Iraq because of "escalating tensions in the Middle East," a German defense ministry spokesman told AFP on Thursday.

Dozens of German soldiers had been relocated away from the base in Erbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.

"Only the personnel necessary to maintain the operational capability of the camp in Erbil remain on site," the spokesman said.

The spokesman did not specify the source of the tensions, but US President Donald Trump has ordered a major build-up of US warships, aircraft and other weaponry in the region and threatened action against Iran.

German troops are deployed to Erbil as part of an international mission to train local Iraqi forces.

The spokesman said the German redeployment away from Erbil was "closely coordinated with our multinational partners".

Arab World

UN: At Least 15 Children Killed in Sudan Drone Strike

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
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UN: At Least 15 Children Killed in Sudan Drone Strike

The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)
The war in Sudan, ongoing since mid-April 2023, has caused extensive destruction across the country (AFP)

A drone strike on a displacement camp in Sudan killed at least 15 children earlier this week, the United Nations reported late on Wednesday.

"On Monday 16 February, at least 15 children were reportedly killed and 10 wounded after a drone strike on a displacement camp in Al Sunut, West Kordofan," the UN children's agency said in a statement.

Across the Kordofan region, currently the Sudan war's fiercest battlefield, "we are seeing the same disturbing patterns from Darfur -- children killed, injured, displaced and cut off from the services they need to survive," UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell said.

Arab World

MSF Will Keep Operating in Gaza 'as Long as We Can'

(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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MSF Will Keep Operating in Gaza 'as Long as We Can'

(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
(FILES) A Palestinian man walks on his crutches to the Doctors Without Borders or Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic, in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on new year's Eve, December 31, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

The head of Doctors Without Borders in the Palestinian territories told AFP the charity would continue working in Gaza for as long as possible, following an Israeli decision to end its activities there.

In early February, Israel announced it was terminating all the activities in Gaza by the medical charity, known by its French acronym MSF, after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.

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

"For the time being, we are still working in Gaza, and we plan to keep running our operations as long as we can," Filipe Ribeiro told AFP in Amman, but said operations were already facing challenges.

"Since the beginning of January, we are not anymore in the capacity to get international staff inside Gaza. The Israeli authorities actually denied any entry to Gaza, but also to the West Bank," he said.

Ribeiro added that MSF's ability to bring medical supplies into Gaza had also been impacted.

"They're not allowed for now, but we have some stocks in our pharmacies that will allow us to keep running operations for the time being," he said.

"We do have teams in Gaza that are still working, both national and international, and we have stocks."

In December, Israel announced it would prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from working in Gaza from March 1 for failing to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees, drawing widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.

It had alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the medical charity has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

MSF says it did not provide the names of its Palestinian staff because Israeli authorities offered no assurances regarding their safety.

Ribeiro warned of the massive impact the termination of MSF's operations would have for healthcare in war-shattered Gaza.

"MSF is one of the biggest actors when it comes to the health provision in Gaza and the West Bank, and if we are obliged to leave, then we will create a huge void in Gaza," he said.

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.