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Red Cross Gravely Concerned for Nine Missing Medics in Gaza

A Palestinian woman walks near the rubble of houses, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian woman walks near the rubble of houses, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
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Red Cross Gravely Concerned for Nine Missing Medics in Gaza

A Palestinian woman walks near the rubble of houses, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2025. (Reuters)
A Palestinian woman walks near the rubble of houses, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip March 29, 2025. (Reuters)

The Red Cross said on Saturday it is gravely concerned about the fate of nine Palestine Red Crescent ambulance crew who have been missing for seven days in Gaza.

The international humanitarian organization has not had any contact with the crew since they came under heavy fire while operating in Rafah in the early hours of March 23, it said in a statement.

"It is vital that there is information and access to ensure the safe return of these humanitarians to their families who are in a nightmare without knowing if their loved ones are alive," it stated.

According to the UN at least 1,060 healthcare workers have been killed in the eighteen months since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed southern Israel on October 7 2023. Hamas killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 50,000 people have died in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to the health authorities in Gaza. The Israeli military said it does its best to reduce harm to civilians and questioned the death toll provided by health authorities in the Hamas-run territory.

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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
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Kurdish Fighters Leave Northern City in Syria as Part of Deal with Central Government

A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)
A first contingent of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters leave Aleppo, headed for SDF-controlled northeastern Syria, in Aleppo, Syria, 04 April 2025. (EPA)

Scores of US-backed Kurdish fighters left two neighborhoods in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo Friday as part of a deal with the central government in Damascus, which is expanding its authority in the country.

The fighters left the predominantly Kurdish northern neighborhoods of Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh, which had been under the control of Kurdish fighters in Aleppo over the past decade.

The deal is a boost to an agreement reached last month between Syria’s interim government and the Kurdish-led authority that controls the country’s northeast. The deal could eventually lead to the merger of the main US-backed force in Syria into the Syrian army.

The withdrawal of fighters from the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) came a day after dozens of prisoners from both sides were freed in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Syria’s state news agency, SANA, reported that government forces were deployed along the road that SDF fighters will use to move between Aleppo and areas east of the Euphrates River, where the Kurdish-led force controls nearly a quarter of Syria.

Sheikh Maksoud and Achrafieh had been under SDF control since 2015 and remained so even when forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad captured Aleppo in late 2016. The two neighborhoods remained under SDF control when forces loyal to current interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa captured the city in November, and days later captured the capital, Damascus, removing Assad from power.

After being marginalized for decades under the rule of the Assad family rule, the deal signed last month promises Syria’s Kurds “constitutional rights,” including using and teaching their language, which were banned for decades.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds, who were displaced during Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war, will return to their homes. Thousands of Kurds living in Syria who have been deprived of nationality for decades under Assad will be given the right of citizenship, according to the agreement.

Kurds made up 10% of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Kurdish leaders say they don’t want full autonomy with their own government and parliament. They want decentralization and room to run their day-to day-affairs.