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Sudan Says Has Demands before Normalizing Ties with Israel

Pompeo on an official visit to Sudan to urge more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel, following the US-brokered Israel-UAE agreement [AFP]
Pompeo on an official visit to Sudan to urge more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel, following the US-brokered Israel-UAE agreement [AFP]
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Sudan Says Has Demands before Normalizing Ties with Israel

Pompeo on an official visit to Sudan to urge more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel, following the US-brokered Israel-UAE agreement [AFP]
Pompeo on an official visit to Sudan to urge more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel, following the US-brokered Israel-UAE agreement [AFP]

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sudan in late August ahead of the US elections as part of a regional tour to convince more Arab countries to normalize ties with Israel.

During his visit to Khartoum, Pompeo pledged to lift the country from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, invite major US companies to invest in it and provide financial assistance if it normalizes relations with Israel, Acting Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din told El Tayyar daily newspaper.

“However, Sudan demanded that the US first normalizes Sudan's relations with world countries and provide it with the necessary aid before discussing Sudanese-Israeli relations,” he noted.

The US designated Sudan a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 over ousted President Omar al-Bashir’s ties with terrorist groups. The designation makes the country ineligible for much-needed debt relief and funding from international institutions and limits potential foreign investment.

However, the US expected that the “weak” country, which faces economic and political challenges and is struggling to return to the world order, would instantly approve the normalization request and raise President Donald Trump’s chances in the elections.

Qamar al-Din pointed out that Head of Sudan’s Sovereign Council Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan presented a list of conditions to Pompeo, who vowed to discuss them with the US and Israeli sides before giving the final response.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok told Pompeo that his government had no mandate to normalize ties with Israel, and that such move would be decided after the transitional period.

The PM also urged the US not to link the issue of lifting Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list with the normalization with Israel request.

Despite Sudan’s announced position, Israeli officials have confirmed ongoing communication between the leaders of Khartoum and Tel Aviv.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by several Israeli newspapers as saying on Tuesday that Sudan, Chad and Oman will normalize relations with Israel after the UAE.

“We are having many more meetings with Arab and Muslim leaders to normalize relations, including Sudan and Oman,” he said.

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Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Halts Aid, Official Says, as Gazan Clans Deny Hamas is Stealing It

Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)
Palestinians struggle to receive cooked food distributed at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP)

Israel has halted aid supplies to Gaza for two days to prevent them being seized by Hamas, an official said on Thursday after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks whom clan leaders said were protecting aid, not diverting it to the militants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz, said late on Wednesday that he had ordered the military to present a plan within two days to prevent Hamas from taking control of aid.

The decision was made after Netanyahu and Katz cited new information indicating that Hamas was seizing aid intended for civilians in northern Gaza. The statement did not disclose the information but a video circulating on Wednesday showed dozens of masked men, some armed with rifles but most carrying sticks, riding on aid trucks

An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that aid deliveries had been temporarily suspended for two days to allow the military time to develop a new plan.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli prime minister's office, the defense ministry or the Israeli military.

The Higher Commission for Tribal Affairs, which represents influential clans in the territory, said that trucks had been protected as part of an aid security process managed "solely through tribal efforts". The commission said that no Palestinian faction, a reference to Hamas, had taken part in the process.

Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for more than two decades but now controls only parts of the territory after nearly two years of war with Israel, denied any involvement.

Throughout the war, numerous clans, civil society groups and factions - including Hamas' secular political rival Fatah - have stepped in to help provide security for the aid convoys.

Clans made up of extended families connected through blood and marriage have long been a fundamental part of Gazan society.

ACUTE SHORTAGE

Amjad al-Shawa, director of an umbrella body for Palestinian non-governmental organisations, said the aid protected by clans on Wednesday was being distributed to vulnerable families.

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies after the nearly two-year military campaign by Israel that has displaced most of Gaza's two million inhabitants.

Aid trucks and warehouses storing supplies have often been looted, frequently by desperate and starving Palestinians. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies.

"The clans came ... to form a stance to prevent the aggressors and the thieves from stealing the food that belongs to our people," Abu Salman Al Moghani, a representative of Gazan clans, said, referring to Wednesday's operation.

The Wednesday video was shared on X by former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who claimed that Hamas had taken control of aid allowed into Gaza by the Israeli government. Bennett is widely seen as the most viable challenger to Netanyahu at the next election.

Netanyahu has also faced pressure from within his right-wing coalition, with some hardline members threatening to quit over ceasefire negotiations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

In response, Israel launched a military campaign that has killed more than 56,000 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to local health authorities in Gaza.

At least 103 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire over the past 24 hours, local health authorities said, including some shot near an aid distribution point, the latest in a series of such incidents. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Twenty hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, while Hamas is also holding the bodies of 30 who have died.