Tel Aviv Requests Official Approval from Khartoum to Fly over Sudanese Airspace

An El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 737-900ER airplane takes off from the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport as seen from Paracuellos del Jarama, outside Madrid, Spain, August 8, 2018. (Reuters)
An El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 737-900ER airplane takes off from the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport as seen from Paracuellos del Jarama, outside Madrid, Spain, August 8, 2018. (Reuters)
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Tel Aviv Requests Official Approval from Khartoum to Fly over Sudanese Airspace

An El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 737-900ER airplane takes off from the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport as seen from Paracuellos del Jarama, outside Madrid, Spain, August 8, 2018. (Reuters)
An El Al Israel Airlines Boeing 737-900ER airplane takes off from the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport as seen from Paracuellos del Jarama, outside Madrid, Spain, August 8, 2018. (Reuters)

Israel has officially requested that the Sudanese government allow its flights to pass through the African country’s airspace after the two parties signed an initial agreement to normalize relations, said a Sudanese senior official.

The official said the request is being reviewed and no final approval has been made.

Media had recently reported Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that Israeli commercial flights have been flying over Sudanese airspace since November 8.

On Friday, Israeli media reported that two Israeli flights will pass for the first time through Sudan’s airspace to Kampala and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Israel’s El Al Airlines operated its first commercial flight through Sudanese airspace on Sunday, reported Yedioth Ahronoth.

The flight departed from Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport to Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport. It departed Entebbe back to Israel on the same day with 153 Ugandans who will be trained on modern agricultural methods.

Commenting on the El Al flight, a Sudanese official told Asharq Al-Awsat that it may have been an exception before the official approval or rejection of the Israeli request to fly over Sudan.

The request asks that Israeli commercial jets be granted permanent approval to fly over Sudan. This includes El Al and all other Israeli airlines.

Sudan’s acting Foreign Minister Omar Qamar al-Din has previously stated that there was no reason to prevent Israel from using the Sudanese airspace.

He said Khartoum would reap financial benefits from such a move, raising its revenues from international aviation transit fees to nearly one million dollars a day.

As it stands, no Israeli plane is allowed to fly through the airspace without approval from the Foreign Ministry.



Netanyahu Says Significant Progress Made in Talks to Release Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (AP)
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Netanyahu Says Significant Progress Made in Talks to Release Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony on the eve of Israel's Remembrance Day at the Yad LaBanim Memorial in Jerusalem, on April 29, 2025. (AP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there had been "significant progress" in efforts to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, but that it was "too soon" to raise hopes that a deal would be reached.

Despite efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to restore a ceasefire in Gaza, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.

Netanyahu, who has come under pressure from within his right-wing coalition to continue the war and block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, said in a video statement shared by his office that there had been progress, without providing details.

A source familiar with the negotiations said that Washington had been giving Hamas more assurances, in the form of steps that would lead to an end to the war, but said it was US officials who were optimistic, not Israeli ones. The source said there was pressure from Washington to have a deal done as soon as possible.

The White House National Security Council and representatives for US envoy Steve Witkoff, who is leading US efforts in the ceasefire talks, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Neither did Hamas representatives.

Israel's leadership has said that it would wage war until the remaining 55 hostages held in Gaza are freed and when Hamas, whose October 2023 attack sparked the war, has been dismantled.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, has said it would no longer govern after the war if a Palestinian, non-partisan technocratic committee took over, but it has refused to disarm.

The US has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it would abide by the terms, but Hamas has sought amendments. The group has said that it would release all hostages in exchange for a permanent end to the war.

The war in Gaza has raged since Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people in Israel in the October 2023 attack and took 251 hostages back to the enclave, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.