Egypt Backs Efforts to Achieve Stability in South Sudan

Egypt’s ambassador in Juba during his meeting with South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egypt’s ambassador in Juba during his meeting with South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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Egypt Backs Efforts to Achieve Stability in South Sudan

Egypt’s ambassador in Juba during his meeting with South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egypt’s ambassador in Juba during his meeting with South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Egypt’s Ambassador to South Sudan Moataz Moustafa Abdel Kader held on Wednesday talks with South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs Martin Elia Lomoro.

Abdel Kader said Egypt is keen to support efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability in South Sudan, as well as economic and social development and to build South Sudanese capacities.

He added that Cairo looks forward to providing all forms of support to implement the remaining agreed-upon topics in the peace agreement.

He underscored the importance of overcoming all obstacles, following up on all agreements and memoranda of understanding signed between the two countries' governments, and working to expedite their implementation.

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, the ambassador underlined the depth and strength of the brotherhood bonds that unite Presidents Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Salva Kiir Mayardit.

He said their ties have contributed to enhancing strategic relations, coordination, and consultations on regional and international issues of common interest.

He referred to the volume of university and graduate scholarships offered by the Ministry of Higher Education, in addition to many training courses in priority areas such as water resources, irrigation, agriculture, electricity, energy, health, and others.

Both countries hailed the level of ties and their recent development and agreed on the need to advance cooperation in all fields.

Lomoro, for his part, lauded the historic and fraternal relations that unite the leadership and peoples of the two countries.

He praised Cairo’s efforts to help and support the people of South Sudan in various economic, social, and development fields and sectors.

He further affirmed that Juba trusts Cairo and its role in supporting peace and stability in the country, and appreciates its commitment to helping it achieve the Sudanese people’s aspirations for peace, development and prosperity.



Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Releases Video of Two Israeli Hostages Alive in Gaza

 A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
A picture taken near Israel's border with Gaza shows smoke billowing in the besieged Palestinian territory on May 8, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas's armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli hostages alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war.

Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana, who were kidnapped during Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the war.

The three-minute video released by Hamas's Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades shows one of the hostages, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket.

Bohbot, a Colombian-Israeli, was seen bound and injured in the face in video footage from the day of the Hamas attack. After a video of him was released last month, his family said they were "extremely concerned" about his health.

The second hostage, said to be Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives -- a similar message to statements made by other hostages, likely under duress, in previous videos released by Hamas.

Bohbot and Ohana, both abducted by Palestinian gunmen from the site of a music festival, are among 58 hostages held in Gaza since the 2023 attack, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Hamas also holds the remains of an Israeli soldier killed in a 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the fate of three hostages presumed alive was unclear, without naming them.

"We know with certainty that 21 hostages are alive... and there are three others whose status, sadly, we do not know," Netanyahu said in a video shared on his Telegram channel.

Israel resumed its military offensive across the Gaza Strip on March 18, after a two-month truce that saw the release of dozens of hostages.

Since the ceasefire collapsed, Hamas has released several videos of hostages, including of the two appearing in Saturday's video.

Israel says the renewed offensive aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives, although critics charge that it puts them in mortal danger.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 2,701 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in Gaza, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,810.