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Arab World

'We Don't Have Superpowers', Says Red Cross on Criticism over Gaza Response

A Red Cross vehicle, as part of a convoy believed to be carrying hostages abducted by Hamas armed men during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, arrives at the Rafah border, amid a hostages swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 24, 2023. (Reuters)
A Red Cross vehicle, as part of a convoy believed to be carrying hostages abducted by Hamas armed men during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, arrives at the Rafah border, amid a hostages swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 24, 2023. (Reuters)
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'We Don't Have Superpowers', Says Red Cross on Criticism over Gaza Response

A Red Cross vehicle, as part of a convoy believed to be carrying hostages abducted by Hamas armed men during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, arrives at the Rafah border, amid a hostages swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 24, 2023. (Reuters)
A Red Cross vehicle, as part of a convoy believed to be carrying hostages abducted by Hamas armed men during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, arrives at the Rafah border, amid a hostages swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in the southern Gaza Strip, Nov. 24, 2023. (Reuters)

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has faced criticism for not doing enough to release the hostages in Gaza, stresses it has no "superpowers" and relies on the warring parties for access.

"From time to time, we have to tell people we're not bulletproof," ICRC spokesman Jason Straziuso told AFP.

"We don't have superpowers. We can only take humanitarian action when the authorities in a given area give us the permission."

In recent days, amid the temporary truce in Gaza, the Geneva-based organization's vehicles have brought dozens of hostages held by Hamas out of the Palestinian enclave.

On October 7, Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing 1,200, according to Israeli authorities.

In response, Israel unleashed a severe air and ground military campaign that the Hamas government says has killed nearly 15,000 in Gaza, mostly civilians including more than 6,000 children.

The ICRC, founded 160 years ago, has been criticized for not taking part in negotiations that led to their liberation, and for not visiting those remaining in captivity in Gaza. It has also faced criticism for not pressuring Israel to liberate more Palestinian prisoners, and for not bringing more aid into Gaza.

Straziuso said much of the criticism showed "a lack of understanding of how we work or the limitations of our work".

"We are not an intelligence agency," he said stressing that “We couldn't possibly just simply start walking through Gaza and trying to locate hostages.”

Such an action, he said, "could directly put the hostages in danger and it could put our team in danger".

Julie Billaud, an associate professor at Geneva's Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, said "The humanitarian organizations in general and ICRC in particular cannot substitute the political work needed" to end this war.

Marco Sassoli, an international law professor at Geneva University, meanwhile explained that if international humanitarian law was being respected, "hostages, unlike prisoners, must be freed unconditionally and without negotiation", he told AFP.

Thus, "the ICRC can offer its services as a neutral intermediary, but it will not negotiate the hostages' liberation".

Ever since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly and publicly questioned the Committee's lack of access to prisoners of war held by Moscow.

Sassoli lamented that there today was "less and less understanding of neutrality", with everyone, including the ICRC, pressured to "take a position and say there are bad guys and good guys".

"If the ICRC only negotiates with good guys, they will have barely anyone to negotiate with in armed conflicts," the professor warned.

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Arab World

Karak Church Attack Suspects Hid in Abandoned House for 60 Hours

A building shows signs of gunfire at the site where Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects in connection with the deadly church shooting, in the Al-Judayyda area of Karak, Jordan, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni
A building shows signs of gunfire at the site where Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects in connection with the deadly church shooting, in the Al-Judayyda area of Karak, Jordan, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni
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Karak Church Attack Suspects Hid in Abandoned House for 60 Hours

A building shows signs of gunfire at the site where Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects in connection with the deadly church shooting, in the Al-Judayyda area of Karak, Jordan, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni
A building shows signs of gunfire at the site where Jordanian security forces arrested three suspects in connection with the deadly church shooting, in the Al-Judayyda area of Karak, Jordan, October 26, 2026. REUTERS/Alaa Al Sukhni

Jordanian sources confirmed that the perpetrators of the Hamoud Church attack, who were arrested early Monday, had been hiding in an abandoned house in the village of Jdeideh, neighboring Hamoud, where the terrorist attack killed nine people and wounded dozens of churchgoers who had gathered to offer condolences.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the terrorists had remained inside the abandoned house for 60 hours, managing to conceal their presence without attracting the attention of nearby residents. The house is located six kilometers from Hamoud village.

The same sources said the perpetrators watched the funeral procession for the victims of the Hamoud Church attack pass by from their hiding place.

They added that the three suspects were two brothers and their cousin.

Large-Scale Security Operation

Providing details of the operation to arrest the three terrorists, the sources said security forces used drones and remotely controlled robots.

During the operation, the terrorists opened fire from the roof of the house where they were hiding, targeting drones in an attempt to prevent them from pinpointing their location through aerial mapping.

Security forces also deployed robots into the confrontation area to verify whether the targets had been hit.

Security personnel had earlier helped evacuate residents from the area surrounding the suspects' hideout without drawing attention, allowing the terrorists to remain unaware of the preparations for the operation.

The suspects had taken refuge in a house abandoned by its occupants after they were forced to leave following a murder, as the victim's family sought either revenge or reconciliation.

The perpetrators chose the house to increase their chances of evading the security forces.

The shooting of churchgoers bore the hallmarks of takfiri extremist organizations that may have links to foreign groups, an issue investigators are expected to clarify.

Security Statement

Jordan's Public Security Directorate announced that joint special investigation and raid teams, working alongside other security agencies, had located the three terrorists responsible for the "cowardly attack" against Jordanian citizens at a church in Hamoud village, Karak Governorate, early Monday.

The directorate said the suspects were located following continuous search and combing operations.

In a statement, it confirmed that the three terrorists had barricaded themselves inside an abandoned house, refused to surrender and opened fire on security personnel.

Security forces responded in accordance with the rules of engagement, eventually gaining control of the situation and arresting all three suspects after they were wounded. No members of the security force were injured.

The directorate added that a quantity of firearms and ammunition was seized following the arrests and a search of the premises.

Arab World

Israeli Strike in Gaza Kills Three Including Child

Children react as people take cover from a reported drone strike while they were queuing to receive meals from a charity kitchen in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2026. (AFP)
Children react as people take cover from a reported drone strike while they were queuing to receive meals from a charity kitchen in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Israeli Strike in Gaza Kills Three Including Child

Children react as people take cover from a reported drone strike while they were queuing to receive meals from a charity kitchen in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2026. (AFP)
Children react as people take cover from a reported drone strike while they were queuing to receive meals from a charity kitchen in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2026. (AFP)

Three Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed Monday in an Israeli airstrike on a camp for displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip, medical sources and first responders said.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said a total of 11 people had been killed and 50 wounded by Israeli fire and airstrikes in Gaza over the past 24 hours.

"We transported three martyrs, including a child, following an Israeli airstrike targeting a camp for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis," Bassal told AFP.

Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis confirmed the three deaths.

"Their bodies were torn apart by direct hits from shrapnel from the Israeli missile," the hospital said, adding that several wounded people, including a child and a woman, had also come in for treatment.

The hospital identified the deceased as Hossam al-Zamli, Tamer Abu Sneima, and Jouri al-Soufi, a young girl. The Gaza education ministry gave her age as seven.

Israel's military told AFP it was looking into reports of the strike.

A security source in Gaza told AFP that "several tanks and military vehicles, accompanied by a military bulldozer, advanced on Monday morning into the area west of the Yellow Line in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah", in central Gaza.

After a US-brokered ceasefire took hold in Gaza in October 2025, the so-called Yellow Line was established to divide the areas under Israeli control -- more than 60 percent of the territory -- from those under Hamas control.

The military advance Monday coincided with "heavy gunfire by the occupation forces towards the eastern and northern areas" of Deir al-Balah, home to hundreds of displaced families, the source added.

Since the ceasefire began last year, more than 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory's health ministry.

The war began on October 7, 2023, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,221 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel responded with a massive military campaign that has destroyed much of Gaza and killed more than 74,500 people, according to the territory's health ministry, which operates under Hamas and whose figures are considered accurate by the United Nations.

Arab World

Mass Outages in Sudan After RSF Drones Hit Five Power Stations

People walk through a vegetable market in El Obeid, as drought and heat linked to El Nino threaten harvests, livestock, and water supplies in Sudan's war-affected Kordofan region, El Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk through a vegetable market in El Obeid, as drought and heat linked to El Nino threaten harvests, livestock, and water supplies in Sudan's war-affected Kordofan region, El Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
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Mass Outages in Sudan After RSF Drones Hit Five Power Stations

People walk through a vegetable market in El Obeid, as drought and heat linked to El Nino threaten harvests, livestock, and water supplies in Sudan's war-affected Kordofan region, El Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)
People walk through a vegetable market in El Obeid, as drought and heat linked to El Nino threaten harvests, livestock, and water supplies in Sudan's war-affected Kordofan region, El Obeid, North Kordofan, Sudan, September 13, 2026. (Reuters)

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces launched a coordinated drone attack Monday against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the country's east, a government official told AFP.

The drones hit two power stations each in the states of Al-Jazira and Gedaref, and one in White Nile state, "resulting in power outages across large parts of these three states", the official said on condition of anonymity.

All three states are controlled by the Sudanese army, which has since April 2023 been at war with its former ally, the RSF.

The United Nations has repeatedly warned that regular attacks on power stations threaten health and services for millions of people, already facing the world's largest hunger crisis.

An AFP correspondent in Al-Jazira state reported the electricity had been out since 2 am (0000 GMT).

Babiker Youssef, a resident of Al-Fao in Gedaref, said the power there had also been out since the same time.

"My son is diabetic, his insulin has to be stored in the fridge," he told AFP over the phone, scared he would not be able to replace the medication if it spoils.

"We have no idea when the power will come back," he added.

Electricity has been cut for days at a time after past paramilitary drone strikes on power stations and hydroelectric dams, compounding the suffering of nearly 20 million people facing extreme hunger.

- 'Losing our stock' -

Sudan's war is currently being fought primarily via drones, with both sides launching sophisticated attacks from across the country, killing dozens of civilians at a time.

In the first three weeks of October alone, drone strikes killed over 300 people and injured hundreds more, according to a UN tally.

Africa's third-largest country, home to an estimated 50 million people, has been ravaged by the war, which aid workers estimate has killed more than 200,000 people.

The majority of Sudan's hospitals have been forced shut, at least eight million children are out of school and swathes of the country cannot access basic services.

"The electricity had just started to improve three months ago, the power station the militia had destroyed was just repaired and we had hope our irrigation pumps would finally start running again," a 54-year-old farmer, Abdelhafez Daafallah, told AFP over the phone from Al-Jazira's Al-Junaid town.

"We hoped we would be able to finally get back to farming, but now the station has been hit," he said, frustrated after nearly four years unable to till his land.

Farmers in Al-Jazira have struggled to rehabilitate and re-plant their land since the army recaptured the state from the RSF last year.

Further east, in Gedaref, grocer Ibrahim Mohammed, 37, said he was "already facing power cuts for hours before the strike".

"Now I have chicken in the fridge, we either lose our entire stock, or will be forced to sell it off at any price, which is still a loss."

Sudan is also grappling with unprecedented inflation and a currency in freefall, having lost over 25 percent of its value in recent weeks.