Latest news with #humanitarianAid
The National
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
Sudan's army accepts El Fasher humanitarian truce proposed by UN
Sudan 's armed forces commander Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan has agreed to a UN proposal for a week-long truce in the besieged city of El Fasher, to allow the delivery of food and other humanitarian aid. Gen Al Burhan conveyed his acceptance of the proposal during a telephone conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to an official Sudanese statement. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been locked in a war with the army since April 2023, has yet to publicly respond to the UN offer. El Fasher in northern Darfur is held by the army but has been besieged by the RSF since May last year. Tens of thousands of the city's residents have fled to escape fighting and shelling by the RSF. The city sits close to the large Zamzam camp for displaced people, among the worst areas affected by famine and violence in the vast Afro-Arab nation. 'We are making contacts with both sides with that objective, and that was the fundamental reason for that phone contact [with Gen Al Burhan]. We have a dramatic situation in El Fasher,' Mr Guterres said on Friday. He said a humanitarian truce is needed for effective aid distribution, and must be agreed upon several days in advance to prepare for a large-scale delivery in the El Fasher area. No details were revealed about the proposed truce, including when it could come into effect or how the aid will be delivered and distributed. The war between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands and left more than 26 million people − more than half Sudan's population − facing acute hunger, with a growing number among them now suffering from famine. It has also displaced about 14 million people, of whom about four million have found refuge across the border, mostly in Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and the Republic of Central Africa. The RSF controls all of Darfur, except for El Fasher and parts of Kordofan province. The army holds the capital Khartoum and eastern, central and northern regions. War erupted when months of tension between the RSF and the army over their future role in a democratic Sudan escalated into all-out violence. The fighting started in the greater Khartoum area, but later spread to western and central Sudan.
SBS Australia
3 hours ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Evening News Bulletin 28 June 2025
Listen to Australian and world news, and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts . Donald Trump says he believes Gaza ceasefire possible within a week... Victorian Opposition slams government for new delays to over-budget metro line... Queensland superstar Kalyn Ponga ruled out of the State of Origin series decider with a foot injury. United States President Donald Trump says he believes it is possible that a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict will be reached within a week. At an Oval Office event celebrating a Congo-Rwanda peace deal, Mr Trump has told reporters he believes a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is close, but has failed to provide additional detail. "I think it's close. I just spoke with some of the people involved and we think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire and we're supplying, as you know, a lot of money and a lot of food to that area because we have to. It's too bad other countries aren't helping out. Nobody's helping out, we're doing that because I think we have to on a humanitarian basis." The United Nations says at least 410 Palestinians have been shot and killed while waiting for food aid to be delivered by a U-S and Israeli-approved organisation over the last month and Israel continues to block other efforts from the international community to deliver aid to the region. The Victorian government is attempting to downplay reports of delays in construction and testing of the $15 billion Melbourne Metro Tunnel, with the train line now not set to open for regular commuter services until early 2026. The Age reports the government is planning, what they call, a "soft opening" of the Metro in November of this year for limited off-peak much-delayed and over-budget project was initially slated to be finished by September 2024, and the Allan government has reportedly offered the construction companies over a billion dollars if they could finish the project by this Opposition leader Brad Battin says the delay and increasing cost of the project is unacceptable. "No one knows when it's going to open. No one knows which stations will open and no one knows how many trains will be able to go through during peak and off-peak times. How can a government spend billions of dollars and not have the plan ready and know exactly what time those stations will open and how often trains can operate. And the government won't come out and be honest on exactly how they've wasted that money. It's too important here in Victoria to understand, for every Victorian, where is our money going?" The New South Wales government has defended a controversial bill aimed at reforming the state's workers compensation scheme, including changes making it more difficult to receive ongoing support for psychological injury. Unions, academics and healthcare professionals have raised alarm about a proposal in the bill which will more than double the threshold for workers seeking ongoing support for a psychological injury beyond two-and-a-half years. Unions New South Wales has told an inquiry into the bill that this increase would disqualify 95 per cent of workers with permanent psychological injuries. The Coalition has agreed and have so far helped block the bill, with state Opposition leader Mark Speakman saying the change would punish the most severely injured workers. Sophie Cotsis, New South Wales Minister for Work Health and Safety, says the government is investing close to $128 million in prevention efforts to avoid lasting injury. "We will have an additional 51 safe work inspectors. This is historic. There will be 20 inspectors dedicated to psycho-social matters at work. This is a huge investment supporting early intervention, prevention, supporting workers and businesses." The Greens have condemned what they've described as brutal and excessive police force shown towards former candidate for Grayndler, Hannah Thomas, who has now undergone surgery after an arrest at a pro-Palestine protest. The 35-year-old lawyer and activist who ran against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his Inner-West seat last month was photographed with a bruised and bloodied face after picketing a business reportedly supplying parts for jets used by the Israeli military. She has now reportedly undergone surgery for serious facial injuries. Greens MP Sue Higginson and Senator David Shoebridge have issued a statement calling for Police Minister Yasmin Catley to investigate the arrest as a critical incident. Police say four others were arrested at the protest, including a 24-year-old man who they claim temporarily stole a police body worn camera. Kalyn Ponga is out of the State of Origin series decider, after scans confirmed the Queensland superstar has suffered a foot injury. Newcastle has confirmed Ponga is set for a lengthy stint out, less than 12 hours after picking up the injury in the loss to Canberra. The injury is a serious blow to the Maroons, given their game-two win in Perth had offered Billy Slater the prospect of keeping the team intact for the Sydney battle. It will potentially open the door for Reece Walsh to return to the Queensland number-one jersey, after his own return to form for Brisbane. The State of Origin decider kicks off on Wednesday, July 9 at Accor Stadium in Sydney.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
UN working for ceasefire in besieged Sudan city
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday he has been in contact with the warring sides in Sudan to try to reach a ceasefire in the besieged and starving city of El-Fasher. Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has agreed in principle to such a humanitarian pause, his ruling Transitional Council said. But the opposing paramilitary side, led by al-Burhan's erstwhile deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, said it had received no truce proposal. Since April 2023, the army has been at war with Daglo's Rapid Support Forces, killing tens of thousands and tearing Africa's third-largest country in two. In the latest violence, paramilitary shelling of El-Fasher on Friday killed 13 people including three children, a medical source told AFP. Another 21 were injured. In a telephone conversation with al-Burhan, Guterres called for a weeklong ceasefire in El-Fasher to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to civilians, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The city has been besieged by the RSF for more than a year. "We are making contacts with both sides with that objective," Guterres told reporters. "We have a dramatic situation in El- Fasher," he said. "The people are starving in an extremely difficult situation, so we need to have an amount of time of truce for aid to be distributed, and you need to have it agreed with some days in advance to prepare a massive delivery in the El-Fasher." "I have a positive answer from General Burhan, and I am hopeful that both sides will understand how vital it is to avoid the catastrophe that we are witnessing in El-Fasher," he said. In a statement, the council that al-Burhan oversees said he had agreed to the truce proposal. But an RSF source told AFP Friday the paramilitary group had not received a ceasefire proposal. The RSF conquered nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur in the early months of the war, but has been unable to seize North Darfur state capital El-Fasher despite besieging the city for over a year. The UN has repeatedly warned of civilians trapped in the city with nearly no aid allowed in, and families forced to survive by eating leaves and peanut shells. At a Security Council meeting on Sudan on Friday, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee suggested humanitarian pauses might be applied to other places in Sudan. "We are pursuing a predictable and time-bound humanitarian pause to facilitate safe humanitarian movements into and out of areas affected by ongoing fighting, beginning with El-Fasher, and allow civilians to leave voluntarily and securely," she said. Civilians report soaring prices and nearly all health facilities forced to shut due to fighting. A World Food Programme facility inside El-Fasher was damaged by repeated RSF shelling last month, and in early June five aid workers were killed in an attack on a UN convoy seeking to supply the city. The paramilitary has repeatedly attacked the city and its surrounding famine-hit displacement camps, killing hundreds of civilians and driving out hundreds of thousands of already displaced people. bur-abd/dw/acb
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israeli military rejects report that soldiers told to fire at Palestinians waiting for food, after repeated deadly incidents
The Israeli military has denied a new report that soldiers were ordered to fire at unarmed Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid in Gaza, after hundreds of people were reported killed while approaching food distribution sites in recent weeks. On Friday, the daily Haaretz newspaper published an article alleging that Israeli soldiers in Gaza were instructed by their commanders to shoot at the crowds of Palestinians approaching aid sites, even as it was evident that the crowds posed no threat. One soldier who spoke anonymously with Haaretz described the approach routes to the aid sites as a 'killing field' where Israeli forces open fire even if there is no immediate threat. According to the article, Israeli forces recently began dispersing crowds with artillery shells, which resulted in a sharp rise in casualties. 'We strongly reject the accusation raised in the article — the IDF did not instruct the forces to deliberately shoot at civilians, including those approaching the distribution centers,' the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in response to the article. 'To be clear, IDF directives prohibit deliberate attacks on civilians.' Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz have also rejected the report as 'vicious lies designed to discredit the IDF – the most moral army in the world.' More than 500 Palestinians have been killed as they approached aid sites or trucks carrying aid since May 27, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Palestinians have come under fire on a near daily basis as they approach the sites, health officials and emergency responders have said. In one such incident earlier this month, more than a dozen eyewitnesses, including those wounded in the attack, told CNN that Israeli troops shot at crowds in repeated volleys of gunfire. Weapons experts said the rate of gunfire heard in the footage, as well as images of bullets retrieved from victims, were consistent with machine guns used by the Israeli military. On multiple occasions, the IDF has acknowledged firing what it called 'warning shots' at Palestinians approaching military positions near aid distribution sites. It has also said that it is examining reports of casualties, but it has not publicly released any findings to date. According to Haaretz, the Military Advocate General has instructed the IDF General Staff's Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism – which reviews incidents involving the potential violations of the laws of war – to investigate suspected war crimes near the aid sites. 'Any allegation of a deviation from the law or IDF directives will be thoroughly examined, and further action will be taken as necessary,' the IDF said on Friday. CNN has reached out to the IDF for additional comment. The Gaza aid sites where the deaths have occurred are run by the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which hands out pre-packaged boxes of food at a handful of locations in southern and central Gaza. The group's distribution was chaotic from the start one month ago, with crowds of desperate Palestinians rushing the sites the moment they open to take the available aid before it runs out, often within less than an hour. GHF was set up to replace the United Nations aid distribution mechanism, which Israel and the US have accused Hamas of looting. Hamas has rejected those claims, and humanitarian groups say most of the UN-distributed food aid reaches civilians. GHF coordinates with the Israeli military to designate specific routes for Palestinians traveling to their aid sites and has come under sharp criticism from aid experts. It has acknowledged some episodes of violence occurring outside of its immediate aid sites, but repeatedly described food distribution operations as having 'proceeded without incident.' In response to the Haaretz reporting, the organization said it was 'not aware' of the specific incidents described. Nevertheless, it added, 'these allegations are too grave to ignore and we therefore call on Israel to investigate them and transparently publish the results in a timely manner.' On Thursday, the US State Department announced that it is awarding $30 million to the organization, a sign of continued US support for GHF, which says it distributed 46 million meals in four weeks of operations.
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Health
- CTV News
Netanyahu denounces report that Israeli soldiers have orders to shoot at Palestinians seeking aid
Palestinians carry humanitarian aid packages near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution center operated by the U.S.-backed organization in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana) JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz emphatically rejected a report in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday, which claimed Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sites inside Gaza. They called the report's findings 'malicious falsehoods designed to defame' the military. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded while seeking food since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began distributing aid in the territory about a month ago, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Reacting to the Haaretz piece, Israel's military confirmed that it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites. It rejected the article's allegations 'of deliberate fire toward civilians.' The foundation, which is backed by an American private contractor, has been distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza, for the past month. 'GHF is not aware of any of these incidents but these allegations are too grave to ignore and we therefore call on Israel to investigate them and transparently publish the results in a timely manner,' the group said in a social media post. Palestinians trying to find food have frequently encountered chaos and violence on their way to and on arrival at the aid sites. Tens of thousands are desperate for food after Israel imposed a 2 1/2 month siege on Gaza, blocking all food, water and medicine from entering the territory pending the setup of the GHF sites. The bodies of eight people who died Friday had come to Shifa Hospital from a GHF site in Netzarim, although it was not immediately clear how they died, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmyiha, the hospital's director, told The Associated Press. A GHF spokesperson challenged the report, saying they did not know of any incidents at or near their sites Friday. Twenty other bodies his hospital received Friday came from airstrikes across north Gaza, he said. Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots. Mohammad Fawzi, a displaced man from Rafah, told the AP that he was only able to get empty boxes, not food, from the aid site in the Shakoush area in Rafah when he trekked there early Thursday morning. 'We've been shot at since 6 a.m. up until 10 a.m. just to get aid and only some people were able to receive it. There are martyrs and injured people. The situation is difficult,' he said. The group Doctors Without Borders on Friday condemned the distribution system as 'a slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid' and called for it to be immediately shut down. More than 6,000 people have been killed and more than 20,000 injured in Gaza since the ceasefire collapsed on March 18. Since the war began, more than 56,000 people have been killed and 132,000 injured, according to the health ministry. The Gaza Health Ministry doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but has said that women and children make up more than half the 56,000 dead. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians, because they operate in populated areas. The Israel-Hamas war started following the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage. About 50 of them still remain in captivity in Gaza. The latest deaths include six people killed and 10 wounded in Israeli strikes on a group of citizens near the Martyrs Roundabout in the Bureij Camp in central Gaza Strip, officials at Awda Hospital in Nuseirat said Friday. The United Nations chief meanwhile urged leaders to show 'political courage' and agree to a ceasefire like the one forged between Israel and Iran. Secretary-General António Guterres also urged a return to the U.N.'s long-tested distribution system for aid in Gaza, where he said Israeli military operations have created 'a humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions..' 'The search for food must never be a death sentence,' Guterres stressed to U.N. reporters Friday. By Julia Frankel, Fatma Khaled And Wafaa Shurafa. Shurafa reported from Gaza and Khaled from Cairo. Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed from the United Nations.
