Seasonal Floods Destroy Over 2,500 Homes in Eastern Sudan

A man carries belongings as he wades through of a flooded road in the town of Shaqilab, about (25 km) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
A man carries belongings as he wades through of a flooded road in the town of Shaqilab, about (25 km) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
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Seasonal Floods Destroy Over 2,500 Homes in Eastern Sudan

A man carries belongings as he wades through of a flooded road in the town of Shaqilab, about (25 km) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
A man carries belongings as he wades through of a flooded road in the town of Shaqilab, about (25 km) southwest of the capital, Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

Deadly seasonal floods have collapsed more than 2,500 houses in eastern Sudan, state news has reported, leaving thousands homeless in an already impoverished region.

Another 546 houses were partially destroyed by torrential rains in River Nile province, SUNA news agency said late on Thursday.

Since the start of the rainy season in May, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that an estimated 38,000 people have been affected by the floods across the East African country.

So far, the areas hardest hit include Kassala, South Darfur, Central Darfur, South Kordofan, the White Nile and the River Nile provinces, The Associated Press reported.

The total nationwide death toll remains undetermined. On Wednesday, SUNA reported that two children were killed when floods destroyed their home in the central province of the While Nile.

Earlier, OCHA said that at least another six people had died, and an unconfirmed number of people were injured when their houses collapsed or were washed away by floods in the Central Darfur province.

About 2,800 houses were destroyed, and more than 1,620 houses damaged in the same province, according to an OCHA statement released on Monday.

Last month, the UN said that flash floods killed another 12 people in South Darfur.

Sudan's rainy season usually lasts until September, with floods peaking up between August and September. In 2021, more than 314,000 people were affected by rains and flooding across Sudan, according to the UN.



Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.