UNRWA Still Operating Despite Israel Ban

Nationalist Israeli activists hold an Israeli flag and spray paint on a sign as they celebrate a ban on UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA's operations in Jerusalem and Israel, at the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jamal Awad
Nationalist Israeli activists hold an Israeli flag and spray paint on a sign as they celebrate a ban on UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA's operations in Jerusalem and Israel, at the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jamal Awad
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UNRWA Still Operating Despite Israel Ban

Nationalist Israeli activists hold an Israeli flag and spray paint on a sign as they celebrate a ban on UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA's operations in Jerusalem and Israel, at the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jamal Awad
Nationalist Israeli activists hold an Israeli flag and spray paint on a sign as they celebrate a ban on UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA's operations in Jerusalem and Israel, at the UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem, January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jamal Awad

The UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA is continuing to deliver assistance and services in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem on Thursday, said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric as a ban on the agency in Israel came into effect.

Israel cut ties with the UN agency after accusing it of providing cover for Hamas militants.

UNRWA is banned from operating on Israeli soil, and contact between it and Israeli officials will also be forbidden.

UNRWA has provided support for Palestinian refugees around the Middle East for more than 70 years, but has long clashed with Israeli officials, who have repeatedly accused it of undermining the country's security.

The hostility intensified following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, with accusations that UNRWA employees took part in the assault.

After the law came into effect, the Norwegian government said Thursday it would contribute $24 million to the UN agency.

"Gaza is in ruins, and UNRWA's help is more necessary than ever," Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said.



Sudan's RSF, Allies Sign Charter for Rival Government

The Sudan war has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's worst hunger and displacement crises - AFP
The Sudan war has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's worst hunger and displacement crises - AFP
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Sudan's RSF, Allies Sign Charter for Rival Government

The Sudan war has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's worst hunger and displacement crises - AFP
The Sudan war has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's worst hunger and displacement crises - AFP

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces and its allies have agreed to form a parallel government, they said Sunday, despite warnings such a move could further fragment the war-ravaged country.

"The charter has been signed," Najm al-Din Drisa, spokesman of the United Civil Forces, one of the signatories, told AFP.

The parties to the agreement, inked behind closed doors in Nairobi, said the charter establishes a "government of peace and unity" in rebel-controlled areas of the northeast African country.

The move comes nearly two years into a devastating war with the regular army that has uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the United Nations calls the world's largest hunger and displacement crises.
Among those who agreed to it was a faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, which controls parts of the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states in the country's south.

Abdel Rahim Daglo, deputy and brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- who was notably absent -- also signed.

The charter, seen by AFP, calls for "a secular, democratic, decentralized state based on freedom, equality, and justice, without bias toward any cultural, ethnic, religious, or regional identity".

It also outlines plans for a "new, unified, professional, national army" with a new military doctrine that "reflects the diversity and plurality characterizing the Sudanese state".

The proposed government aims to end the war, ensure unhindered humanitarian aid and integrate armed groups into a single, national force.

The war, originally triggered by disputes over integrating the RSF into the military, has killed tens of thousands, with both sides accused of atrocities.

Last month, the US determined the RSF had committed genocide in the western region of Darfur.

The conflict has torn the country in two, with the army controlling the north and east and the RSF holding nearly all of Darfur and swathes of the south.

The army is currently on the verge of recapturing the capital Khartoum, after surging through central Sudan and regaining territory this year.

In its alliance with the SPLM-N, the RSF side now controls more of the south and has border access to Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Ethiopia.

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the move could "increase the fragmentation of the country and risk making this crisis even worse".

But the charter's signatories denied any intentions to divide the country.

Alaa El-Din Nuqd, a signatory representing professional unions, said the proposed government would benefit people in RSF-held areas "who have been cut off from essential services".

Nuqd said the charter was a step toward "protecting the dignity" of war-hit civilians.

Analysts say the move is aimed at strengthening the RSF after their recent battlefield setbacks.

Sudanese political analyst Kholood Khair said the RSF's ultimate goals were to acquire an air force, facilitate humanitarian aid to areas under its control and secure a stronger negotiation position.

"They want to go into mediations as a government, not a militia," she told AFP.

However, any arms sales to the potential government would still be in violation of a Darfur embargo which the United Nations has recommended expanding to cover all of Sudan.