Israeli Sources Reveal Possible Netanyahu-Burhan Meeting in Uganda

Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
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Israeli Sources Reveal Possible Netanyahu-Burhan Meeting in Uganda

Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)
Sudanese Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the military council, waves to his supporters upon his arrival in Omdurman district, west of Khartoum, Sudan, on June 29, 2019 (AP / Hussein Malla)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sudan's Sovereignty Council chair General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan are likely to meet in Uganda soon, political sources in Tel Aviv said Thursday although a government spokesperson refused to confirm the news.

Television channel i24NEWS said the meeting would come as part of a normalization process between the two countries.

It added that the Sudanese-Israeli Friendship Association will be launched in the Sudanese capital Khartoum and that the event, where media will be invited for coverage, will set off a normalization process between the two states.

Khartoum is taking practical steps with Israel to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv and reach a financial settlement with victims of terrorism.

Those steps are essential for the US administration to remove Sudan from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Sudan is most likely to sign a normalization accord with Israel in the coming days, taking steps similar to that of UAE and Bahrain.

Meanwhile, former British prime minister Tony Blair said at The Jerusalem Post conference Thursday that peace between Israel and the Palestinians will come through Israel establishing relations with Arab states.

“The foundation of the approach in the region, that Israelis and Palestinians negotiate peace and then the rest of the region joins, is the diametric opposite of what should happen,” Blair said. “Actually, what you need to do is create peace between Israel and the Arab nations and include the Palestinian issue in that peace.”

US Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said on Wednesday that another country will recognize Israel “in the next day or two.”



Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Over 100 Patients to Be Evacuated from Gaza, WHO Says

 A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A youth salvages items from the rubble of a building destroyed in Israeli strikes in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on November 5, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

More than 100 patients including children will be transferred out of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in a rare medical evacuation from the Palestinian enclave during the Israel-Hamas war, a World Health Organization official said on Tuesday.

The WHO says fewer than 300 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since early May, when Israel expanded its military offensive southwards and took over the southern Rafah Crossing with Egypt, which had been used for medical transfers.

Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said the patients, including children with trauma injuries and chronic diseases, would depart in a large convoy via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

Under arrangements made by the WHO, the patients will then fly to the United Arab Emirates from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and some will travel on to Romania, he said.

"These are ad hoc measures. What we have requested repeatedly is a sustained medevac (medical evacuation) outside of Gaza," Peeperkorn told a press conference.

Asked whether Israel had approved the transfer, he said he was hopeful it would be facilitated by Israeli authorities.

He said more than 12,000 people were awaiting transfer, adding: "We cannot continue the way we do now."

COGAT, the Israeli military agency responsible for Palestinian affairs, says it actively facilitates the departure of seriously ill or injured patients, adding that the scope of such evacuations was determined by the capacity of organizations and countries to receive them.

As of last week, it said 10 groups of patients had been evacuated through Israel and it was willing to coordinate more.

Peeperkorn was part of a WHO convoy that on Nov. 3 provided some relief for the busy al-Awda and Kamal Adwan hospitals in northern Gaza which he said were barely operational because of medical and staff shortages.

"For al-Awda we are very concerned because the hospital needs urgent fuel and medical supplies, otherwise it might become non-functional over the coming week," he said of the hospital in Jabalia, just north of Gaza City.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, including in hospitals, in the war that began after the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023.

In a night-time raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital last month, an Israeli military official said around 100 Hamas fighters were captured, some posing as medical staff, along with weapons. Hamas rejected the accusations.