Israel and Hamas dig in as international pressure builds for a ceasefire in Gaza

CAIRO/DUBAI: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces have attacked the famine-stricken Zamzam displacement camp, residents and medics say, as the paramilitary tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold while losing ground to the army in the capital, Khartoum.
The latest fighting has hardened battle lines between the two forces in a conflict that threatens to splinter Sudan after plunging half the population into hunger and displacing more than one-fifth since April 2023.
This week, as it attempts to consolidate its territory, the RSF has staged multiple attacks on Zamzam residents, according to three people at the camp.
Medical aid agency MSF has confirmed seven deaths from the violence, while residents say dozens may have been killed. Medics are unable to perform surgery inside Zamzam, and travel to Al-Fashir’s Saudi hospital, a frequent RSF target, has become impossible, MSF said.
Reuters verified a video showing RSF forces inside Zamzam earlier this week, stamping on a rival flag as a building burned in the background.
Zamzam is located near Al-Fashir, capital of North Darfur and the army’s last remaining foothold in the wider Darfur region.
The RSF, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, says Zamzam is a base for the Joint Forces, former rebel groups now fighting alongside the army.
The Joint Forces said in a statement on Thursday that they were not present in the camp. The Sudanese government said the army, Joint Forces, and other volunteers were able to push the RSF back from Zamzam on Wednesday.
ARSON ATTACKS
Nearly 22 months after war erupted from a power struggle between the two factions, the RSF controls almost all of Darfur in Sudan’s west, and much of the neighboring Kordofan region. The army controls Sudan’s north and east and has recently made major gains in Khartoum.
Next week, a “political charter” setting up a parallel government in RSF-controlled territories will be signed, with the announcement of a cabinet coming soon after, Ibrahim Al-Mirghani, a politician who supports the effort, told Reuters.
The RSF has targetted Zamzam with artillery for months, causing some people to dig holes for shelter, according to one resident and a video shared by activists.
“Inside the neighborhoods, they terrorize, steal, and kill ... people hide in these holes when they are firing and when they are raiding, because there is nowhere else to flee,” the resident told Reuters.
The RSF has also continued raids and arson attacks on villages surrounding Al-Fashir in recent weeks, according to the Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab.
The Yale Lab found that over half the structures in Zamzam’s main market were destroyed in a manner consistent with arson attacks, executive director Nathaniel Raymond told Reuters.
A video shared by army-aligned Darfur governor Minni Minnawi showed stalls burned to ash and vegetables strewn on the ground.
Arson was also detected on residences along the northern entrance to the camp, said Raymond.
Tens of thousands have been displaced, many seeking refuge in Zamzam and increasing the camp’s population to up to one million people, according to the International Organization for Migration.
ESCAPE ROUTES ‘BLOCKED’
Sudan’s top UN official Clementine Nkweta-Salami said on Thursday she was “shocked by the attacks on Zamzam IDP camp and the blockages of escape routes.”
Across Darfur RSF forces have restricted aid efforts, now also hit by freezes on USAID, according to UN and other aid workers.
MSF, one of few humanitarian groups operating in the area, had to stop a nutrition program for 6,000 malnourished children after the attacks, the aid group’s North Darfur coordinator Marion Ramstein said.
A global hunger monitor determined in August that Zamzam was experiencing famine. In December, it confirmed famine in two other camps in Al-Fashir.
Earlier this month, MSF said it found that the proportion of the camp’s children who were malnourished had risen to 34 percent, a similar level to Tawila, a nearby town to which many have fled from RSF attacks.

KHAN YOUNIS: Hamas fighters have gathered in the southern Gaza Strip for the release of three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for more than 300 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The three are Iair Horn, 46, Sagui Dekel Chen, 36, and Alexander (Sasha) Troufanov, 29. All have dual citizenships. Horn was abducted along with his brother, Eitan, who remains in captivity.

As with previous exchanges, a stage was set up and the area was festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions. Nearby was the shell of a heavily damaged multistory building.
The militants are expected to parade the hostages before crowds and cameras before handing them over to the Red Cross.
The truce that began nearly four weeks ago had been jeopardized in recent days by a tense dispute that threatened to renew the fighting.
US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to remove more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza and settle them elsewhere in the region has cast even more doubt on the future of the ceasefire.
But Hamas said Thursday it would move ahead with the release of more hostages after talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials. The group said the mediators had pledged to “remove all hurdles” to assure Israel would allow more tents, medical supplies and other essentials into Gaza.
It will be the sixth swap since the ceasefire took effect on Jan. 19. So far, 21 hostages and over 730 Palestinian prisoners have been freed during the first phase of the truce.
As with previous exchanges, dozens of masked, armed Hamas fighters lined up near a stage festooned with Palestinian flags and the banners of militant factions while music blared from loudspeakers.
The militants are expected to parade the hostages before crowds and cameras onto the stage, which has been set up near a heavily damaged multistory building, before handing them over to the Red Cross. The humanitarian organization will then transport them to Israeli force.