Region

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire on Thursday in Gaza's far-southern city after Israel said it had seized a strategic corridor on the Palestinian territory's border with Egypt.

The Israeli forces launched its incursion into Rafah in early May despite international objections over the fate of Palestinian civilians sheltering there.

A strike over the weekend that started a fire and killed dozens in a displacement camp drew a wave of fresh condemnation, including a social media campaign with the slogan "All eyes on Rafah" that has been shared by tens of millions of users.

Israel, which has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas after the Palestinian fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, said on Wednesday its forces had taken over the 14-kilometre Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which it suspects was used for weapons smuggling.

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari announced Israel had taken "operational control" of the narrow border area, where he said troops had "discovered around 20 tunnels".

Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict which has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of the Israeli operation, has rejected claims of smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone.

"Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes," a high-level Egyptian source was quoted as saying by state-linked Al Qahera News.

On the ground in the Gaza Strip, witnesses reported fighting in central and western Rafah.

Witnesses also said Israeli forces had demolished several buildings in the city’s eastern areas where the Israeli incursion began on May 7, initially focusing on the vital Rafah border crossing, a key entry point for humanitarian aid.

UN draft resolution

An AFP correspondent reported artillery and gunfire in Gaza City’s southern neighbourhood of Zeitun, in the territory’s north, where witnesses saw thick plumes of smoke rising over Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia.

A steady stream of civilians have fled Rafah, transporting their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering there. Since then, 1 million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported late Wednesday that two of its paramedics “were killed as a result of the Israeli occupation’s direct bombing” of an ambulance near Rafah.

The weekend Israeli strike and ensuing fire which tore through the camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah, killed 45 people, according to Gaza officials and has prompted two days of discussions at the UN Security Council.

Israel has said it targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members.

In the wake of the strike, Algeria presented a draft UN resolution that “demands an immediate ceasefire respected by all parties” and the release of all hostages, but it was not clear when it would be put to a vote.

In a phone call with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday, France’s Emmanuel Macron said Paris was “determined to work with Algeria” to ensure the council “makes a strong statement on Rafah”.

He also called on Abbas to “implement necessary reforms”, offering the “prospect of recognition of the state of Palestine”.

Decisions by Spain, Norway and Ireland to formally recognise the State of Palestine this week have sparked a debate over the issue, and Macron said it should take place at a “useful moment”.

ROME — Three UN agencies warned on Thursday of a "significant deterioration" in the nutrition situation of children and mothers in war-torn Sudan, calling for "urgent action".

"The lives of Sudan's children are at stake and urgent action is needed to protect an entire generation from malnutrition, disease and death," the United Nations children's agency (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement.

Sudan has been in the throes of conflict for over a year between the regular army led by de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and the RSF led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, including up to 15,000 in a single West Darfur town, according to UN experts.

Nearly nine million people have been forced from their homes.

"The ongoing hostilities are worsening the drivers of child malnutrition," the agencies said.

"These include a lack of access to nutritious food, safe drinking water and sanitation, and increased risk of disease," they added.

“Sudan is facing an ever-increasing risk of conflict-induced famine that will have catastrophic consequences including the loss of life, especially among young children.”

The agencies said the conflict “is also severely impacting the delivery of humanitarian supplies, leaving countless women and children without access to vital food and nutritional support... [while] growing violence and bureaucratic procedures impede access to conflict affected areas”.

Child malnutrition in Sudan is “at emergency levels”, the statement said.

In Central Darfur, acute malnutrition is estimated to be at 15.6 percent among children under five, while at the Zamzam camp for displaced people in North Darfur state it is close to 30 per cent.

“We need immediate and safe access to deliver the humanitarian assistance that they so desperately need,” said WFP head Cindy McCain.

“Millions of lives are at stake and the international community must act now or we risk losing an entire generation of children,” she said.

The agencies warned: “The window to avert the worst is rapidly closing.”

BRUSSELS, Belgium — International donors led by the EU on Monday pledged 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) for Syrian refugees, as Brussels insisted they should not be “pushed back” to their war-torn homeland. 

An annual gathering hosted by the EU and chaired by its foreign policy chief Josep Borrell saw the European Union commit 2.12 billion euros for 2024 and 2025. 

That figure included 560 million euros already promised this year for Syrians displaced inside the country and in Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, and the same amount for 2025. 

The bloc also pledged one billion euros for Syrian refugees in neighbouring Turkey. 

“The situation in Syria is more dire today than one year ago. In fact, it has never been so dire and humanitarian needs are at all time high,” Borrell said. 

“Today 16.7 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance, the highest level since the start of the crisis over 13 years ago.”

EU humanitarian chief Janez Lenarcic said that on top of the five billion euros in grants, a further 2.5 billion euros was promised by donors in loans. 

He said the EU and its member states overall accounted for three quarters of the grants pledged. 

The United States said it had also pledged nearly 545 million euros ($593 million) in humanitarian assistance for Syria.

Washington “remains committed to assisting the Syrian people and encourages other donors to continue their support for Syrians”, a State Department statement added. 

The donor drive came after the United Nations refugee agency warned its operations to support displaced Syrians remained “significantly underfunded at 15 per cent almost six months into 2024”.

“While we welcome the pledges made today, the discussion remains far removed from the harsh realities Syrians face,” Oxfam’s Syria director, Moutaz Adham, said. 

“Funding still fails to match the scale of needs and year after year, the number of people relying on aid grows.”

Not be ‘pushed back’ 

In the face of the shortfalls, regional countries hosting millions of refugees from Syria have been increasingly pushing for “voluntary” returns to the country. 

But Borrell cautioned about any efforts to make people move back to Syria. 

“We make a warning about the so-called voluntary returns of Syrian refugees to Syria,” he said. 

“Voluntary returns mean voluntary. The refugees should not be pushed back to Syria.”

Borrell insisted that the international community should not “incentivise this by any means”.

“We consider that there is not the safe, voluntary, informed and dignified returns of refugees to Syria for the time being,” the EU’s top diplomat said. 

Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more since it erupted in 2011 after Damascus cracked down on anti-government protests.

More than a quarter of Syrians live in extreme poverty, the World Bank said on Saturday, 13 years into a devastating civil war that has battered the economy and impoverished millions.

Borrell said that efforts to find a political solution to the conflict remained at an “impasse”. 

“The Assad regime has shown no intention of engaging in any meaningful political process,” he said. 

“We request everyone, including partners in the region, to use their political leverage to encourage a renewed impetus on the political process.” 

DUBAI — A merchant vessel was "taking on water" off the Yemeni port of Hodeida on Tuesday after it was damaged in a missile attack, maritime security firm Ambrey said.

The ship was "targeted with three missiles", Ambrey said, adding that a distress call said it "had sustained damage to the cargo hold and was taking on water".

The distress call also reported that "the vessel was listing", Ambrey added.

The firm did not identify the ship or say how many crew members were on board.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is run by Britain's Royal Navy, said on social media platform X that the ship reported "being hit by missiles" and had "sustained damage".

"The crew are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call," UKMTO said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came amid a campaign of drone and missile strikes against Israeli-linked shipping by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The rebels' attacks, which they say are in support of the Palestinians, have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, a vital route that normally carries about 12 per cent of global trade.

Since January, the United States and Britain have launched retaliatory strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the attacks on shipping.

The strikes have done little to deter the Houthis, who have vowed to target US and British vessels as well as all ships heading to Israeli ports.

On Monday, US military forces destroyed a drone over the Red Sea launched from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

In March, a ship loaded with fertiliser sank in the Gulf of Aden after it was damaged by missiles launched by the Houthi rebels.

In November, the Houthis seized the vehicle-transporter Galaxy Leader and its crew.

Speaking from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, the prime minister of Yemen’s internationally recognised government criticised the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.

“The Houthis are exploiting” the Palestinian cause to launch strikes, Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak said, charging that Houthi threats to Red Sea shipping predate the Gaza war.

VIENNA — Planned discussions between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve the impasse over Tehran's nuclear programme have been suspended following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi this month, the agency said.

One day after the May 19 helicopter crash which killed Raisi and others "Iran indicated that due to the 'special circumstances', it was no longer appropriate to hold substantive discussions" and a new date would be set, according to a confidential report seen by AFP on Monday.

Tensions between Iran and the IAEA have repeatedly flared since a 2015 deal curbing Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for sanction relief fell apart.

In recent years, Tehran has decreased its cooperation with the IAEA by deactivating surveillance devices needed to monitor the nuclear programme and barred UN inspectors.

Earlier this month, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi visited Iran in a bid to improve cooperation with Tehran.

After returning from his trip, Grossi decried "completely unsatisfactory" cooperation.

In a separate confidential report seen by AFP ahead of an IAEA board of governors’ meeting next week, the agency said Iran’s estimated stockpile of enriched uranium had reached more than 30 times the limit set out in the 2015 accord between Tehran and world powers.

According to the report, Iran’s total enriched uranium stockpile was estimated at 6,201.3 kilogrammes as of May 11, up by 675.8 kilogrammes from the last quarterly report in February.

EU-mediated efforts to revive the deal — bringing the US back on board and Iran back into compliance — have so far been fruitless.

RAFAH, Palestinian Territories — Israel faced a wave of international condemnation on Monday over a strike that Gaza officials said killed 45 people when it set off a fire that ripped through a tent city for displaced Palestinians.

Adding to already heightened tensions since Israel launched a ground operation in Rafah in early May, the Israeli and Egyptian militaries reported a "shooting incident" on Monday that killed one Egyptian guard in the border area between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip.

Both forces said they were investigating.

A US National Security Council spokesperson said Israel "must take every precaution possible to protect civilians".

The UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland called on Israel to conduct a "thorough and transparent" investigation into the strike, as the Israeli military said it was launching a probe.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk decried "horrific" images that "point to no apparent change in the methods and means of warfare used by Israel that have already led to so many civilian deaths".

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X that "these operations must stop. There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians".

EU foreign ministers agreed to call a meeting with Israel to get it to explain its actions in its Rafah offensive despite a UN court order to halt it, said the bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell, who called the strike "horrifying".

Relatives of captives held in Gaza, who have increased pressure on Netanyahu's government demanding action to secure a hostage release deal, heckled the premier from the public gallery as he was speaking and raised posters of their loved ones.

Israel launched the attack on Rafah on Sunday evening, hours after Hamas unleashed a barrage of rockets at the Tel Aviv area, most of which were intercepted.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said the strike ignited a fire that tore through a displacement centre in north-western Rafah near a facility of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

“We saw charred bodies and dismembered limbs ... We also saw cases of amputations, wounded children, women and the elderly,” said civil defence agency official Mohammad Al Mughayyir.

“The sky suddenly lit up,” said displaced Palestinian Muhannad, an eyewitness.

One survivor, a woman who declined to be named, said: “We heard a loud sound and there was fire all around us. The children were screaming.”

‘Dangerous violation’

Footage from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society showed chaotic nighttime scenes of paramedics racing to the attack site and evacuating the wounded.

Mughayyir said the rescue efforts were hampered by war damage and the impacts of Israel’s siege.

“There is a fuel shortage ... there are roads that have been destroyed” as well as “a shortage of water to extinguish fires”, he said.

The Israeli attack sparked strong regional protests from Jordan, mediators Egypt and Qatar as well as from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Egypt deplored the “targeting of defenceless civilians” and labelled it part of “a systematic policy aimed at widening the scope of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it uninhabitable”.

Jordan accused Israel of “ongoing war crimes”, Saudi Arabia condemned “the continued massacres”, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed “to hold these barbarians and murderers accountable”.

Qatar condemned a “dangerous violation of international law” and voiced “concern that the bombing will complicate ongoing mediation efforts” towards a truce.

The African Union chair Moussa Faki Mahamat also condemned the attack on X saying: “Israel continues to violate international law with impunity and in contempt of an ICJ ruling two days ago ordering an end to its military action in Rafah.”

The top world court, the International Court of Justice, on Friday ordered Israel to halt any offensive in Rafah and elsewhere that could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA which has been central to aid operations in the besieged territory during the war, said on X that “with every day passing, providing assistance & protection becomes nearly impossible”.

“The images from last night are testament to how Rafah has turned into hell on Earth,” he said, with “heavy movement restrictions”, ongoing Israeli strikes and Hamas rocket launches, and other “challenges ... that do not allow us to distribute aid”.

On Tuesday, Spain, Ireland and Norway are due to formally recognise a Palestinian state — a step so far taken by more than 140 UN members but few western powers.

Israel opposes the move and on Monday announced punitive steps against Madrid, ordering its consulate in Jerusalem to stop offering services to Palestinians from June 1.