SUDAN WATCH

Saturday, August 16, 2025

Israel in talks to resettle Gaza Palestinians in South Sudan, sources say. South Sudan denies such talks

"MANY world leaders are horrified at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

South Sudan's Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba visited Israel last month and met with Netanyahu, according to the foreign ministry in Juba.

Netanyahu said this month he intends to extend military control in Gaza, and this week repeated suggestions that Palestinians should leave the territory voluntarily.

South Sudan is not in talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza, South Sudan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

In March, Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland also denied receiving any proposal from the United States or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.

The plan, if carried further, would envisage people moving from an enclave shattered by almost two years of war with Israel to a nation [South Sudan] in the heart of Africa riven by years of political and ethnically-driven violence."

Read full story below in three reports by respected journalists.

[NOTE from Sudan Watch Ed: This plan must not be accepted by S.Sudan. At least 25M displaced Sudanese in and around Sudan and S.Sudan struggle to stay alive. S.Sudan, one of the most dangerous countries in the world, does not have the infrastructure and security to support and protect its people]

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Here is a report by Reuters.
Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell at the Israel-Gaza border, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Diane Craft

Dated Saturday, 16 August 2025 - full copy:

Israel in talks to resettle Gaza Palestinians in South Sudan, sources say

Palestinians carry aid supplies they collected from trucks that entered Gaza through Israel, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip August 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas/File Photo

NAIROBI, Aug 15 (Reuters) - South Sudan and Israel are discussing a deal to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza in the troubled African nation, three sources told Reuters - a plan quickly dismissed as unacceptable by Palestinian leaders.

The sources, who have knowledge of the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity, said no agreement had been reached but talks between South Sudan and Israel were ongoing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and Israel's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the information from the three sources.

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said, "we do not speak to private diplomatic conversations," when asked about the plan and if the United States supported the idea.

Netanyahu said this month he intends to extend military control in Gaza, and this week repeated suggestions that Palestinians should leave the territory voluntarily.

Arab and world leaders have rejected the idea of moving Gaza's population to any country. Palestinians say that would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

The three sources said the prospect of resettling Palestinians in South Sudan was raised during meetings between Israeli officials and South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba when he visited the country last month.

Their account appeared to contradict South Sudan's foreign ministry which on Wednesday dismissed earlier reports on the plan as "baseless".

The ministry was not immediately available to respond to the sources' assertions on Friday.

News of the discussions was first reported by the Associated Press on Tuesday, citing six people with knowledge of the matter.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said the Palestinian leadership and people "reject any plan or idea to displace any of our people to South Sudan or to any other place".

His statement echoed a statement from the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday. Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel, who visited the South Sudanese capital Juba this week, told reporters that those discussions had not focussed on relocation.

"This is not what the discussions were about," she said when asked if any such plan had been discussed.

"The discussions were about foreign policy, about multilateral organisations, about the humanitarian crisis, the real humanitarian crisis happening in South Sudan, and about the war," she said, referring to her talks with Juba officials.

Netanyahu, who met Kumba last month, has said Israel is in touch with a few countries to find a destination for Palestinians who want to leave Gaza. He has consistently declined to provide further details.

View original: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-talks-resettle-gaza-palestinians-south-sudan-sources-say-2025-08-15/

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Here is a report by Reuters.
Reporting by George Obulutsa;

Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Christina Fincher
Dated Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - full copy:

South Sudan says no talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza

Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli offensive, shelter in a tent camp on a beach amid summer heat in Gaza City, August 12, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

NAIROBI, Aug 13 (Reuters) - South Sudan is not in talks with Israel to resettle Palestinians from war-torn Gaza, South Sudan's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Associated Press, citing six people with knowledge of the matter, reported that Israel was holding discussions with Juba to resettle Palestinians from Gaza in the East African nation.

"These claims are baseless and do not reflect the official position or policy of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan," South Sudan's foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

Israel's military has pounded Gaza City in recent days prior to its planned takeover of the shattered enclave which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated a view - also enthusiastically floated by U.S. President Donald Trump - that Palestinians should simply leave Gaza.

Many world leaders are horrified at the idea of displacing the Gaza population, which Palestinians say would be like another "Nakba" (catastrophe) when hundreds of thousands fled or were forced out during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948.

South Sudan's Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba visited Israel last month and met with Netanyahu, according to the foreign ministry in Juba.

Last month South Sudan's government confirmed that eight migrants deported to the African nation by the Trump administration were currently in the care of the authorities in Juba after they lost a legal battle to halt their transfer.

Since achieving independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has spent nearly half its life at war and is currently in the grip of a political crisis, after President Salva Kiir's government ordered the arrest of Vice President Riek Machar in March.

View original: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/south-sudan-says-no-talks-with-israel-resettle-palestinians-gaza-2025-08-13/

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Related story

From the Associated Press (AP)

By Sam Mednick

Associated Press reporters Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Matthew Lee in Washington, D.C. and Samy Magdy in Cairo, Egypt, contributed

Dated Tuesday, 12 August 2025

Israel is in talks to possibly resettle Palestinians from Gaza in South Sudan

Israel is in talks with South Sudan about the possibility of resettling Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the war-torn East African country.

Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift camp along the beach in Gaza City, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Read full story: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-gaza-relocation-south-sudan-15191c194cb6f972bc627a382d830edd

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South Sudan: UNSC Briefing and Consultations

THE security situation has remained tense since clashes erupted in March.

The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) has continued operations, including ground offensive and aerial bombardments against opposition-held areas and other armed groups, including in the Greater Upper Nile and Greater Equatoria regions.

The ceasefire agreed to in the revitalised agreement has effectively collapsed, with force unification stalled amid ongoing SSPDF offensives, as well as defections to and recruitment by the SSPDF.

Intercommunal violence has further aggravated insecurity, resulting in hundreds of civilian casualties in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region, according to the Secretary-General’s report.

At Monday’s meeting, several Council members are expected to raise the country’s dire humanitarian situation, including rising food insecurity.

These challenges have been compounded by flooding and a collapsing healthcare system amid a severe cholera outbreak.

The country also continues to grapple with the adverse humanitarian, security, and economic effects of the ongoing fighting in Sudan and the resulting influx of refugees and South Sudanese returnees.

Impediments to humanitarian access, including attacks on humanitarian workers and looting of humanitarian assets, are another matter of concern for Council members.

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Sudan: Starving children dying. Rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged El Fasher, North Darfur

INTERNATIONAL NGOs working in Sudan issued an urgent statement this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".

They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians". Read more in the following report.

From BBC News
By Barbara Plett Usher

Africa correspondent, BBC News
Dated Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - full copy:

'Our children are dying' - rare footage shows plight of civilians in besieged Sudan city

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Media caption,

WATCH: BBC obtains rare video from inside besieged el-Fasher in Sudan

The women at the community kitchen in the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher are sitting in huddles of desperation.

"Our children are dying before our eyes," one of them tells the BBC.

"We don't know what to do. They are innocent. They have nothing to do with the army or [its paramilitary rival] the Rapid Support Forces. Our suffering is worse than what you can imagine."

Food is so scarce in el-Fasher that prices have soared to the point where money that used to cover a week's worth of meals can now buy only one. International aid organisations have condemned the "calculated use of starvation as a weapon of war".

The BBC has obtained rare footage of people still trapped in the city, sent to us by a local activist and filmed by a freelance cameraman.

The Sudanese army has been battling the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for more than two years after their commanders jointly staged a coup, and then fell out.

El-Fasher, in the western Darfur region, is one of the most brutal frontlines in the conflict.

Image caption, This may be the only meal these children get for a day

The hunger crisis is compounded by a surge of cholera sweeping through the squalid camps of those displaced by the fighting, which escalated this week into one of the most intense RSF attacks on the city yet.

The paramilitaries tightened their 14-month blockade after losing control of the capital Khartoum earlier this year, and stepped up their battle for el-Fasher, the last foothold of the armed forces in Darfur.

In the north and centre of the country where the army has wrestled back territory from the RSF, food and medical aid have begun to make a dent in civilian suffering.

But the situation is desperate in the conflict zones of western and southern Sudan.

At the Matbakh-al-Khair communal kitchen in el-Fasher late last month, volunteers turned ambaz into a porridge. This is the residue of peanuts after the oil has been extracted, normally fed to animals.

Sometimes it is possible to find sorghum or millet but on the day of filming, the kitchen manager says: "There is no flour or bread."

"Now we've reached the point of eating ambaz. May God relieve us of this calamity, there's nothing left in the market to buy," he adds.

The UN has amplified its appeal for a humanitarian pause to allow food convoys into the city, with its Sudan envoy Sheldon Yett once more demanding this week that the warring sides observe their obligations under international law.

The army has given clearance for the trucks to proceed but the UN is still waiting for official word from the paramilitary group.

RSF advisers have said they believed the truce would be used to facilitate the delivery of food and ammunition to the army's "besieged militias" inside el-Fasher.

They have also claimed the paramilitary group and its allies were setting up "safe routes" for civilians to leave the city.

Local responders in el-Fasher can receive some emergency cash via a digital banking system, but it does not go very far.

"The prices in the markets have exploded," says Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council.

"Today, $5,000 [£3,680] covers one meal for 1,500 people in a single day. Three months ago, the same amount could feed them for an entire week."

Doctors say people are dying of malnutrition. It is impossible to know how many - one report quoting a regional health official put the number at more than 60 last week.

BBC "The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic" -Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, Paediatrician

Hospitals cannot cope. Few are still operating. They have been damaged by shelling and are short of medical supplies to help both the starving, and those injured in the continual bombardment.

"We have many malnourished children admitted in hospital but unfortunately there is no single sachet of [therapeutic food]," says Dr Ibrahim Abdullah Khater, a paediatrician at the Al Saudi Hospital, noting that the five severely malnourished children currently in the ward also have medical complications.

"They are just waiting for their death," he says.

When hunger crises hit, those who usually die first are the most vulnerable, the least healthy or those suffering from pre-existing conditions.

"The situation, it is so miserable, it is so catastrophic," the doctor tells us in a voice message.

"The children of el-Fasher are dying on a daily basis due to lack of food, lack of medicine. Unfortunately, the international community is just watching."

International non-governmental organisations working in Sudan issued an urgent statement, external this week declaring that "sustained attacks, obstruction of aid and targeting of critical infrastructure demonstrate a deliberate strategy to break the civilian population through hunger, fear, and exhaustion".

They said that "anecdotal reports of recent food hoarding for military use add to the suffering of civilians".

"There is no safe passage out of the city, with roads blocked and those attempting to flee facing attacks, taxation at checkpoints, community-based discrimination and death," the organisations said.

Hundreds of thousands of people did flee in recent months, many from the Zamzam displaced persons camp at the edge of el-Fasher, seized by the RSF in April.

They arrive in Tawila, a town 60km (37 miles) west of the city, weak and dehydrated, with accounts of violence and extortion along the road from RSF-allied groups.

Life is safer in the crowded camps, but they are stalked by disease - most deadly of all: cholera.

It is caused by polluted water and has killed hundreds in Sudan, triggered by the destruction of water infrastructure and lack of food and medical care, and made worse by flooding due to the rainy season.

Image caption, Makeshift centres have been built to treat patients who have cholera

Unlike el-Fasher, in Tawila aid workers at least have access, but their supplies are limited, says John Joseph Ocheibi, the on-site project coordinator for a group called The Alliance for International Medical Action.

"We have shortages in terms of [washing facilities], in terms of medical supplies, to be able to deal with this situation," he tells the BBC. "We are mobilizing resources to see how best we can be able to respond."

Sylvain Penicaud of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) estimates there are only three litres of water per person per day in the camps, which, he says, is "way below the basic need, and forces people to get water from contaminated sources".

Zubaida Ismail Ishaq is lying in the tent clinic. She is seven months pregnant, gaunt and exhausted. Her story is a tale of trauma told by many.

She tells us she used to trade when she had a little money, before fleeing el-Fasher.

Her husband was captured by armed men on the road to Tawila. Her daughter has a head injury.

Zubaida and her mother came down with cholera shortly after arriving in the camp.

"We drink water without boiling it," she says. "We have no-one to get us water. Since coming here, I have nothing left."

Back in el-Fasher we hear appeals for help from the women clustered at the soup kitchen - any kind of help.

"We're exhausted. We want this siege lifted," says Faiza Abkar Mohammed. "Even if they airdrop food, airdrop anything - we're completely exhausted."

Sudan war: A simple guide to what is happening

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'I lost a baby and then rescued a child dodging air strikes in Sudan's civil war'
Oil-rich Sudanese region becomes new focus of war between army and rival forces
Sudan in danger of self-destructing as conflict and famine reign

View original: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxp0qyn6dqo

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