US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza

US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza
The contacts were with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland. (AP)
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Updated 14 March 2025
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US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza

US and Israel look to Africa for resettling Palestinians uprooted from Gaza
  • The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip
  • The contacts were with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland

JERUSALEM: The US and Israel have reached out to officials of three East African governments to discuss using their territories as potential destinations for resettling Palestinians uprooted from the Gaza Strip under President Donald Trump’s proposed postwar plan, American and Israeli officials say.
The contacts with Sudan, Somalia and the breakaway region of Somalia known as Somaliland reflect the determination by the US and Israel to press ahead with a plan that has been widely condemned and raised serious legal and moral issues. Because all three places are poor, and in some cases wracked by violence, the proposal also casts doubt on Trump’s stated goal of resettling Gaza’s Palestinians in a “beautiful area.”
Officials from Sudan said they have rejected overtures from the US, while officials from Somalia and Somaliland told The Associated Press that they were not aware of any contacts.
Under Trump’s plan, Gaza’s more than 2 million people would be permanently sent elsewhere. He has proposed the US would take ownership of the territory, oversee a lengthy cleanup process and develop it as a real estate project.
The idea of a mass transfer of Palestinians was once considered a fantasy of Israel’s ultranationalist fringe. But since Trump presented the idea at a White House meeting last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed it as a ” bold vision.”
Palestinians in Gaza have rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have expressed vehement opposition and offered an alternative reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place. Rights groups have said forcing or pressuring the Palestinians to leave could be a potential war crime.
Still, the White House says Trump “stands by his vision.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials confirmed the contacts with Somalia and Somaliland, while the Americans confirmed Sudan as well. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place.
Separate outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan alongside Netanyahu, according to the US officials, who said that Israel was taking the lead in the discussions.
Israel and the US have a variety of incentives — financial, diplomatic and security — to offer these potential partners. It is a formula that Trump used five years ago when he brokered the Abraham Accords — a series of mutually beneficial diplomatic accords between Israel and four Arab countries.
The White House declined to comment on the outreach efforts.
The offices of Netanyahu and Ron Dermer, the Israeli Cabinet minister and Netanyahu confidant who has been leading Israel’s postwar planning, also had no comment.
But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a longtime advocate of what he calls “voluntary” emigration of Palestinians, said this week that Israel is working to identify countries to take in Palestinians. He also said Israel is preparing a “very large emigration department” within its Defense Ministry.
Here is a closer look at the places the officials say have been approached.
Sudan
The North African country was among the four Abraham Accord nations that agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020.
As part of the deal, the US removed Sudan from its list of state supporters of terrorism, a move that gave the country access to international loans and global legitimacy. But relations with Israel never took off as Sudan plunged into civil war between government forces and the RSF paramilitary group.
The conflict has been marked by atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, and then-President Joe Biden’s administration in January said the RSF and its proxies were committing genocide.
The US and Israel would be hard-pressed to persuade Palestinians to leave Gaza, particularly to such a troubled country. But they could offer incentives to the Khartoum government, including debt relief, weapons, technology and diplomatic support.
Two Sudanese officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter, confirmed that the Trump administration has approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians.
One of them said the contacts began even before Trump’s inauguration with offers of military assistance against the RSF, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives.
Both officials said the Sudanese government rejected the idea. “This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,” said one official. ”No one opened this matter again.”
Military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan told an Arab leaders’ summit last week in Cairo that his country “categorically rejects” any plan that aims to transfer “the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name.”
Somaliland
Somaliland, a territory of over 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia over 30 years ago, but it is not internationally recognized as an independent state. Somalia considers Somaliland part of its territory.
Somaliland’s new president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has made international recognition a priority.
An American official involved in the efforts confirmed that the US was “having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition.”
The possibility of US recognition could provide an incentive for Abdullahi to back away from the territory’s solidarity with the Palestinians.
The United Arab Emirates, another Abraham Accord country that has developed strong ties with Israel, once had a military base in Somaliland and maintains commercial interests there, including a port. The territory’s strategic location, in the Gulf of Aden waterway near Yemen, home to the Houthi rebel group, could also make it a valuable ally.
Over the years, Somaliland has been lauded for its relatively stable political environment, contrasting sharply with Somalia’s ongoing struggles amid deadly attacks by Al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabab. Since 1991, Somaliland has maintained its own government, currency and security structures. Still, it has one of the lowest income levels in the world.
An official in Somaliland, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said his government has not been approached and is not in talks about taking in Palestinians.
Somalia
Somalia has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians, often hosting peaceful protests on its streets in support of them. The country joined the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump’s plan and seems like an unlikely destination for Palestinians, even if they did agree to move.
Sambu Chepkorir, a lawyer and conflict researcher in Nairobi, Kenya, said it is difficult to understand why Somalia would want to host Palestinians given the country’s strong support for Palestinian self-rule.
“The realignments keep changing, and so maybe there is a hidden agenda in why Somalia,” Chepkorir said.
A Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the country had not been approached about taking in Palestinians from Gaza and there had been no discussions about it.


Children dying in South Sudan after US aid cuts: NGO

Updated 19 sec ago
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Children dying in South Sudan after US aid cuts: NGO

Children dying in South Sudan after US aid cuts: NGO
The British Lancet journal projected that the cuts to USAID could lead to more than 14 million deaths by 2030
Rwot estimated they had lost 30 percent of their funding due to the USAID cuts

NAIROBI: The impact of US aid cuts has already taken a toll in South Sudan and children are dying, Action Against Hunger told AFP on Tuesday.

The east African nation has remained deeply poor and unstable since independence in 2011 and is massively dependent on international aid despite its oil wealth.

It is among the countries facing shortfalls following US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash funding for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which had provided over 40 percent of global humanitarian aid.

On Tuesday, the British Lancet journal projected that the cuts to USAID could lead to more than 14 million deaths by 2030, including over 4.5 million children under the age of five.

“I think it’s not just a fear. It’s already a reality. We’re already having some mortality rates coming in,” said Denish Ogen Rwot, Action Against Hunger’s communication and advocacy lead in South Sudan.

“Already we are having children die,” he added.

The international NGO works across South Sudan, including in the increasingly violent Jonglei state, providing food and supplies.

Rwot estimated they had lost 30 percent of their funding due to the USAID cuts.

“That means now we’ll have facilities without food... and how do we work without these supplies?,” he asked.

Rwot recently visited northern Warrap state, near the border with Sudan — itself enduring a civil war — describing how the warehouses there were “very empty.”

“They’re still registering people, but there is no food for them,” he said.

It comes a day after the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that acute malnutrition rates among refugee children in South Sudan — fleeing the war in Sudan — had “already breached emergency thresholds.”

Action Against Hunger has been forced to reduce its staffing in the country from 300 to 86, further impacting its ability to respond during a crisis.

“We are running on sheer faith,” Rwot said.

Food supplies to some Sudan refugees could dry up within 2 months, WFP says

Food supplies to some Sudan refugees could dry up within 2 months, WFP says
Updated 28 min 40 sec ago
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Food supplies to some Sudan refugees could dry up within 2 months, WFP says

Food supplies to some Sudan refugees could dry up within 2 months, WFP says
  • “Unless new funding is secured, all refugees will face assistance cuts in the coming months,” Hughes told a Geneva press briefing
  • Many of those fleeing are escaping from hunger hot spots in Sudan

GENEVA: Food aid to help Sudanese refugees in four neighboring countries could end within the next couple of months without an urgent injection of new funding, a World Food Programme official said on Tuesday, warning of rising malnutrition levels.

Over 4 million refugees have fled Sudan’s more than two-year civil war to seven neighboring countries where shelter conditions are widely viewed as inadequate due to chronic funding shortages.

“Unless new funding is secured, all refugees will face assistance cuts in the coming months,” Shaun Hughes, the WFP’s emergency coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis, told a Geneva press briefing, calling for $200 million over six months.

“In the case of four countries — that’s the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya — WFP’s operations are now so severely underfunded, that all support could cease in the coming months as resources run dry,” he said, clarifying later that this could happen within two months.

Many of those fleeing are escaping from hunger hot spots in Sudan. A joint UN report said last month the country was at immediate risk of famine.

Hughes said that any reduction or end to rations would leave child refugees at a greater risk of malnutrition.

Asked why the funding had fallen, he cited reductions from donors across the board and rising humanitarian needs.

He added that the United States, which has reduced its foreign aid spending dramatically under President Donald Trump, remained its top donor for Sudan.


UAE foreign minister reaffirms Abu Dhabi’s support for UN’s nuclear watchdog

UAE foreign minister reaffirms Abu Dhabi’s support for UN’s nuclear watchdog
Updated 51 min 36 sec ago
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UAE foreign minister reaffirms Abu Dhabi’s support for UN’s nuclear watchdog

UAE foreign minister reaffirms Abu Dhabi’s support for UN’s nuclear watchdog
  • Emirati minister discussed the regional situation with the IAEA chief and exchanged views on current developments in the Middle East
  • Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said UAE values its partnership with the IAEA, which has been essential in advancing Abu Dhabi’s peaceful nuclear program

LONDON: Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, minister of foreign affairs, discussed cooperation between the UAE and the International Atomic Energy Agency during a call on Tuesday with IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi.

The Emirati minister discussed the regional situation with the IAEA chief and exchanged views on current developments in the Middle East, according to the Emirates News Agency.

Sheikh Abdullah highlighted the UAE’s support for the IAEA’s role in promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy for sustainable development, in line with international safety and non-proliferation standards.

The UAE values its partnership with the IAEA, he said, which has been essential in advancing Abu Dhabi’s peaceful nuclear program to provide clean electricity while upholding international standards for safety, security and non-proliferation.


Israeli army kills two in West Bank, including one teen

Israeli army kills two in West Bank, including one teen
Updated 55 min 42 sec ago
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Israeli army kills two in West Bank, including one teen

Israeli army kills two in West Bank, including one teen
  • Palestinian health ministry says 15-year-old Amjad Nassar Abu Awad was killed by Israeli military gunfire in Ramallah

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday that the Israeli army killed two people including a 15-year-old boy in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank.
“At dawn today, Tuesday, 15-year-old child Amjad Nassar Abu Awad was martyred by Israeli gunfire in the city of Ramallah,” the ministry said in a statement.
“Also at dawn today, 24-year-old young man Samer Bassam Zagharneh was martyred by Israeli gunfire near the town of Dhahiriya” in the southern West Bank, the ministry added.
The Israeli military told AFP it was “looking into” the two reported incidents.
Around 20 people, mostly young boys and teenagers, had gathered at a Ramallah hospital to mourn Abu Awad, an AFP journalist at the scene reported.
In tears, the boys touched Abu Awad’s face in the white light of the hospital morgue.
Two Palestinian teenagers, aged 13 and 15, were killed last week in the West Bank towns of Al-Yamoun and Kafr Malik respectively.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
Violence has soared in the West Bank since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 that triggered the Gaza war.
Since then, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 946 Palestinians, including many militants, according to the health ministry.
Over the same period, at least 35 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to Israeli figures.


Charities demand closure of Gaza aid agency backed by US, Israel

Charities demand closure of Gaza aid agency backed by US, Israel
Updated 01 July 2025
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Charities demand closure of Gaza aid agency backed by US, Israel

Charities demand closure of Gaza aid agency backed by US, Israel
  • Over 500 Palestinians killed, more than 4,000 injured at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution centers
  • Gazans face ‘impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families’

LONDON: A group of more than 130 charities and NGOs has called for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation to be closed.

The GHF, backed by the US and Israel, has been operating since May to distribute aid but has been fiercely criticized by observers, with over 500 Palestinians killed and more than 4,000 injured at its distribution centers.

Organizations including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty International on Tuesday said Palestinians are being forced into “militarized” zones in order to receive essential supplies.

“Today, Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the groups said in a statement.

“Orphaned children and caregivers are among the dead, with children harmed in over half of the attacks on civilians at these sites.”

The GHF was established after Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza following the breakdown of a US-backed ceasefire with Hamas in March.

Four aid distribution centers were set up, replacing around 400 that were run by international bodies during the ceasefire.

The group of aid agencies and charities said the GHF system “is not a humanitarian response” to the problems facing Gazans, who have lived in a constant state of displacement and supply shortages since the outbreak of the war in October 2023.

“Amidst severe hunger and famine-like conditions, many families tell us they are now too weak to compete for food rations,” the group added.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday condemned the GHF’s distribution system as being “inherently unsafe.”

It came after a report in Israeli newspaper Haaretz that Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot directly at Palestinian civilians to disperse them from overcrowded GHF aid distribution centers.