UN: More Palestinians Fleeing Combat Zone in Northern Gaza

Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
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UN: More Palestinians Fleeing Combat Zone in Northern Gaza

Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)
Palestinian walk away after Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Eyad Baba)

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel’s air and ground campaign there intensifies.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,00 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday.
The densely populated northern area of Gaza, specifically Gaza City and adjacent crowded urban refugee camps, are the focus of Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas, the militant group that has ruled Gaza for 16 years, The Associated Press said.
The war, now in its second month, was triggered by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
The number of Palestinians killed in the war passed 10,300, including more than 4,200 children, the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Tuesday.
In the occupied West Bank, more than 160 Palestinians have been killed in the violence and Israeli raids. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most of them in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that started the fighting, and 242 hostages were taken from Israel into Gaza by the militant group.



Humanitarian Corridors and Pauses Needed in Sudan, US Envoy Says

The US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, attends a press briefing on the sidelines of Sudan peace talks at the US Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, August 23, 2024. (Reuters)
The US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, attends a press briefing on the sidelines of Sudan peace talks at the US Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, August 23, 2024. (Reuters)
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Humanitarian Corridors and Pauses Needed in Sudan, US Envoy Says

The US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, attends a press briefing on the sidelines of Sudan peace talks at the US Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, August 23, 2024. (Reuters)
The US special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, attends a press briefing on the sidelines of Sudan peace talks at the US Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, August 23, 2024. (Reuters)

More and faster aid deliveries are needed in Sudan, the US special envoy to the war-weary country told Reuters, ideally through the implementation of humanitarian corridors and pauses as discussed with government leaders in a visit on Sunday.

"We are pleased that there has been some progress, but we need to see much more," Tom Perriello said in an interview, following the approval of flights to hunger-striken South Kordofan and the extension of permission to use the Adre border crossing into Darfur by the Sudanese army.

The army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a 19-month conflict that has caused acute hunger and disease across the country. Both sides are accused of impeding aid deliveries, the RSF by looting and the army by bureaucratic delays.

Proposals including humanitarian corridors and pauses were shared with Sudanese sovereign council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and others on a trip to Port Sudan on Monday and progress was made, Perriello said.

In October, the sovereign council approved flights into Kadugli to provide assistance to rebel-held regions of South Kordofan state, where people have gone hungry without aid deliveries, through an agreement with the South Sudanese government.

"I think if we can see that same attitude on the ability to get corridors into places like Khartoum, Omdurman, El-Gezira, al-Fasher, Sennar I think we could get a lot of life-saving aid to some of the most desperate Sudanese," he said.

In a speech on Tuesday, however, Burhan cast doubt on the speed of progress.

"Our vision is clear to all those who want to help us. The war must stop first and the rebels must leave the areas they have occupied," he said.

"Once civilian life is back, relief can return and be available to all Sudanese," he added.

US-led efforts to bring the army and RSF to the negotiating table have not succeeded so far.

"We do remain in active lines of communication with RSF leadership on the negotiations around both humanitarian access and peace," Perriello said.