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Hamas' threat to delay the next planned release of Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip has jolted a fragile ceasefire that’s seen as having the potential to wind down the war. It has brought new dismay for Israelis who watched the latest Hamas handover of hostages in growing horror over the weekend as the three emaciated men came into sight. Of the 17 hostages yet to be released from Gaza under this phase of the ceasefire, Israel has said eight are dead. The next handover of three hostages had been scheduled for Saturday, and families say time is running out for those still alive. Israel now awaits what comes from a security Cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, moved up in response to Monday's Hamas announcement. The developments also have led to new fear in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have surged to what remains of their homes in the territory’s north after fleeing in the war’s earliest weeks. The uncertainty, just over halfway into the ceasefire’s six-week first phase, complicates talks on the far more difficult phase. It also jeopardizes the pause in the devastating fighting and the increase in humanitarian aid for Gaza that it has made possible. Already, there had been concerns that the war would resume at the end of the first phase in early March. What happened? Hamas accused Israel of not holding up its end of the deal by initially delaying the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza over an earlier dispute, carrying out strikes across the territory and hindering the entry of humanitarian aid. The militant group, which quickly reasserted control over Gaza when the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, said the next hostage release would be delayed “until further notice.” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz called the delay “a complete violation” of the ceasefire agreement, and he instructed the military to be on highest alert. The prime minister’s coordinator for hostages said the government intends to live up to its end of the deal. Hamas releases 3 more Israeli hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners under Gaza ceasefire A later Hamas statement called the postponement a “warning signal” to Israel and noted that five days remained for mediators – the United States, Qatar and Egypt -- to pressure Israel to act. “The door remains open for the exchange to proceed as planned if Israel abides by its obligations," it said. There was no immediate public reaction from mediators. What’s Trump saying? The Hamas announcement came as U.S. President Donald Trump pressed further on his stunning proposal to remove the Palestinian population from devastated Gaza and have the U.S. take “ownership” of the territory. He told Fox News on Sunday that the Palestinians would not have the right to return. That deepened the shock among Palestinians, who live with the history of fleeing or being forced from their homes in what is now Israel during the 1948 war. And it brought new condemnation from Arab nations that have long pressed for an independent Palestinian state. Trump’s comments contradicted some of his own administration officials who had said the president was only calling for the Palestinians’ temporary relocation. The Hamas statements on Monday made no mention of Trump’s proposal, which they have rejected multiple times. Who and what is at stake? In immediate limbo is the planned release on Saturday of three more Israeli hostages, along with dozens more Palestinian prisoners from Israeli custody. Such exchanges – five so far in a gradual release of 33 hostages – have been sometimes tense and chaotic acts of trust that have gradually pushed the ceasefire forward, allowing its other measures to fall into place. But the latest release brought home like no other the bleak and dangerous conditions for those still held in Gaza. Israel's Netanyahu heads to US to discuss 'victory over Hamas' with Trump Relatives of the newly released hostages, at times sobbing, have described people being chained or held underground for months and eating half a piece of pita per day. Freed hostages have described going months without showering. The accounts have put furious new pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to begin the delayed talks on the ceasefire’s second phase, which is meant to see more hostages released and bring a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. “The hostages are in a clear and present danger. Their lives are at risk,” a doctor working with families of hostages, Hagai Levine, warned Monday. “Delaying their release means that some of them will not survive.”

A joint summit of leaders from eastern and southern Africa is in progress in Tanzania, as African governments seek a resolution to the violent unrest in eastern Congo, where rebels are threatening to topple the Congolese government, reports AP. Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whose administration is accused of supporting the M23 rebels—who currently control the largest city in eastern Congo—is attending the summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial hub. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi is participating virtually. 773 dead in weeklong fighting as military tries to repel Rwanda-backed rebels: Congo The summit brings together leaders from the East African Community bloc, which includes both Rwanda and Congo, along with those from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional alliance encompassing countries from Malawi to South Africa. The M23 insurgency is partly driven by Rwandan concerns that rebels opposing Kagame’s administration have been allowed by Congo’s military to operate in the largely lawless areas of eastern Congo. Kagame also argues that Tshisekedi has failed to address the legitimate grievances of Congolese Tutsis, who face discrimination. Rwanda has also criticised the deployment of SADC peacekeeping forces against M23 fighters, claiming it has escalated the conflict in North Kivu, a mineral-rich province in eastern Congo. Kagame maintains that the SADC troop presence in eastern Congo is not a peacekeeping effort, as they are actively fighting alongside Congolese forces against the M23. United Nations experts have reported that approximately 4,000 Rwandan troops are supporting the M23 rebels in North Kivu. The rebels, in their push to seize Goma—the strategically located capital of North Kivu near the Rwandan border—successfully repelled Congolese government troops, who had been reinforced by local militias known as Wazalendo, alongside regional peacekeepers and U.N. forces. Rwanda-backed rebels take more towns after seizing east Congo's largest city In his opening remarks, Kenyan President William Ruto addressed summit participants, stating that “the lives of millions depend on our ability to navigate this complex and challenging situation with wisdom, clarity of mind, and empathy.” “Dialogue is not a sign of weakness,” Ruto, the current East African Community chair, emphasised. “It is in this spirit that we must encourage all parties to set aside their differences and engage in constructive discussions.” Tshisekedi has previously dismissed calls for direct negotiations with the M23, viewing the group as a Rwandan proxy force intent on exploiting eastern Congo’s vast natural resources. The M23’s advance has shattered a 2024 ceasefire, reminiscent of their takeover of Goma more than a decade ago. The rebels now claim they will govern the city, which is home to 2 million residents, including hundreds of thousands displaced from the country’s interior. The insurgents have also vowed to push forward towards Kinshasa, the Congolese capital.

An ambush by a “group of criminals” killed at least 10 Nigerien soldiers near the country’s border with Burkina Faso this week, Niger’s ruling military junta said. An intervention unit was sent to the west of the country on Monday to catch criminals stealing cattle in Takzat, a village in western Niger, according to a military statement said broadcast on Wednesday night. “It was during the operation that a group of criminals ambushed the detachment of the internal security forces which resulted in the loss of 10 of our soldiers,” it said. It did not specify who the criminals were. The attackers managed to flee, but the military caught and neutralized 15 “terrorists” on Tuesday, the statement added. Niger, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by jihadi groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance. The three countries vowed to strengthen their cooperation by establishing a new security alliance, the Alliance of Sahel States. But the security situation in the Sahel, a vast region on the fringes of the Sahara Desert, has significantly worsened since the juntas took power, analysts say, with a record number of attacks and civilians killed both by Islamic militants and government forces. Death toll from Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion rises to 86 Ten soldiers were killed and seven others injured in an attack near Niger’s border with Burkina Faso last December, the army said. The same month, militants of an Islamic State group affiliate — known as Islamic State Sahel Province — likely shot and killed 21 passengers on a bus in the Arboudji village, near the border with Burkina Faso, according to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.

A paramilitary assault on an open market in Omdurman, Sudan, left 54 people dead and at least 158 wounded, health officials reported Saturday.  The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked Sabrein Market in the latest violent escalation of Sudan’s ongoing civil war. The conflict, which began in April 2023, has devastated the northeastern African nation, AP reports.  There was no immediate response from the RSF regarding the attack.  Government spokesperson Khalid al-Aleisir, who also serves as Sudan’s culture minister, condemned the assault, stating that many women and children were among the victims. He described the attack as a violation of international humanitarian law.  “This criminal act only adds to the militia’s history of brutality,” he said in a statement.  US military conducts airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia According to Sudan’s Doctors Syndicate, a mortar shell exploded just meters from al-Naw Hospital, which received most of the casualties. The syndicate reported a severe shortage of medical personnel, particularly surgeons and nurses.  Chris Lockyear, secretary general of Doctors Without Borders, was at the hospital when the injured began arriving.  “There are scores of people with devastating wounds, and the morgue is overflowing,” he said. “It’s a horrific scene, another example of this relentless war on civilians.”  A video posted by Al Arabiya TV correspondent Nezar Bogdawi showed body bags lined up outside the hospital and wounded individuals receiving treatment on the floor.  Sudan’s military later announced it had driven RSF fighters out of several areas in Gezira state.  Last week, an RSF assault on a hospital in El Fasher, Darfur, killed around 70 people.  The war has claimed over 28,000 lives, displaced millions, and led to famine. The International Criminal Court is investigating war crimes, while the US has accused the RSF of genocide.

The U.S. military has conducted airstrikes against Islamic State operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by U.S. Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia's government. An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said it assessed that no civilians were harmed in the strikes. Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior IS planner and recruits were targeted in the operation. “The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!” Trump said. “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!” Trump did not identify the IS planner or say whether that person was killed in the strike. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The office of Somalia's president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said the operation “reinforces the strong security partnership” between the two countries in “combating extremist threats.” In a post on X, it said Somalia “remains resolute in working with its allies to eliminate international terrorism and ensure regional stability.” 40 people dead in Kenya and Somalia as heavy rains and flash floods displace thousands The Pentagon's counterterrorism strategy in Africa has been strained as two key partners, Chad and Niger, ousted U.S. forces last year and took over key bases that the U.S. military had used to train and conduct missions against terrorist groups across the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert. U.S. military officials have warned that IS cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia. That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to build their own small quadcopters. The IS affiliate in Somalia emerged in 2015 as a breakaway faction from al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s East African link, and is most active in Puntland, particularly in the Galgala Mountains, where it has established hideouts and training camps and is led by Abdulkadir Mumin. While its influence is relatively limited compared to Al-Shabaab, IS in Somalia has been involved in attacks in southern and central Somalia. The group funds its activities through extortion, smuggling, and illicit taxation, particularly in some coastal areas where it has attempted to control local businesses. Despite facing counterterrorism pressure from Somali security forces, U.S. airstrikes and al-Shabab rivalries, it continues to operate in remote and urban areas, seeking to expand its influence through recruitment and propaganda. The number of IS militants in the country are estimated to be in the hundreds, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group. Saturday’s operation followed military airstrikes on Jan. 30 in northwest Syria, killing a senior operative in Hurras al-Din, an al-Qaeda affiliate, U.S. Central Command said.

At least 773 people were killed in eastern Congo's largest city of Goma and its vicinity this week amid fighting with Rwanda-backed rebels who captured the city in a major escalation of a decadelong conflict, Congolese authorities said Saturday. The rebels' advance into other areas was slowed by a weakened military that recovered some villages from them. Authorities confirmed 773 bodies and 2,880 injured persons in Goma's morgues and hospitals, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya told a briefing in the capital, Kinshasa, adding that the death toll could be higher. “These figures remain provisional because the rebels asked the population to clean the streets of Goma. There should be mass graves and the Rwandans took care to evacuate theirs,” said Muyaya. Hundreds of Goma residents were returning to the city on Saturday after the rebels promised to restore basic services including water and power supply. They cleaned up the neighborhoods littered with debris from weapons and filled with the stench of blood. "I’m tired and don’t know which way to go. On every corner (there) is a mourner,” said Jean Marcus, 25, one of whose relatives was among those killed in the fighting. M23 is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in Congo’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology. They are backed by around 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts, far more than in 2012, when they first captured Goma and held it for days in a conflict driven by ethnic grievances. As the fighting raged on with the M23 rebels Saturday, the Congolese army recaptured the villages of Sanzi, Muganzo and Mukwidja in South Kivu's Kalehe territory, which had fallen to the rebels earlier this week, according to two civil society officials. who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity over fear for their safety. The central African nation’s military has been weakened after it lost hundreds of troops and foreign mercenaries surrendered to the rebels after the fall of Goma. U.N. peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix, meanwhile, said Friday that the M23 and Rwandan forces were about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of South Kivu’s provincial capital of Bukavu, covering almost the same distance in the previous two days since they started advancing along Lake Kivu on the border with Rwanda. Lacroix said the rebels “seem to be moving quite fast,” and capturing an airport a few kilometers (miles) away "would be another really significant step.” The seizure of Goma resulted in a dire humanitarian crisis, the U.N. and aid group have said. Goma serves as a humanitarian hub critical for many of the 6 million people displaced by the conflict in eastern Congo. The rebels said they will march all the way to Congo's capital Kinshasa, 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) to the west. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric also told a briefing Friday that the World Health Organization and its partners conducted an assessment with Congo’s government between Jan. 26-30, and reported that 700 people have been killed and 2,800 injured in Goma and the vicinity. Dujarric confirmed to AP that the deaths occurred during those days. The rebel advance has left in its wake extrajudicial killings and forced conscription of civilians, U.N. human rights office spokesman Jeremy Laurence said Friday. “We have also documented summary executions of at least 12 people by M23” from Jan. 26-28, Laurence said, adding that the group has also occupied schools and hospitals in the province and are subjecting civilians to forced conscription and forced labor. Congolese forces have also been accused of sexual violence as fighting rages on in the region, Laurence said, adding the U.N. is verifying reports that Congolese troops raped 52 women in South Kivu. Goma’s capture has brought humanitarian operations to “a standstill, cutting off a vital lifeline for aid delivery across eastern (Congo),” said Rose Tchwenko, country director for the Mercy Corps aid group in Congo. “The escalation of violence toward Bukavu raises fears of even greater displacement, while the breakdown of humanitarian access is leaving entire communities stranded without support,” she said.

Rebels backed by Rwanda captured more towns in eastern Congo on Wednesday as they moved beyond the key city of Goma in an apparent attempt to expand their control in the conflict-battered region. The rebels advanced toward the center of South Kivu province after taking several towns, including Kalungu, Kanyezire and Mukwinja, according to a local civil society leader and an aid worker in the area. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, AP reports. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the developments were concerning, and that the United Nations was taking measures to protect civilians and UN staff. The advance also raised fears of a prolonged occupation by the rebels, who have said they plan to set up a new administration in Goma, a city of 2 million people. “Left unchecked, the fighting could spread ... recalling the horrors of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when millions died,” the Crisis Group said, citing the last, multi-country war there. Rwanda-backed rebels claim capture of Goma in eastern Congo Unlike now, the rebels captured Goma only briefly during their first rebellion in 2012, withdrawing after a few days under international pressure on Rwanda. Meanwhile, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi was conspicuously absent from a virtual summit of a regional East African bloc that began late Wednesday, hosted by Kenya. Tshisekedi was on an official visit to Angola, which had mediated a ceasefire between Congo and Rwanda last year, the Angolan presidency said in a statement. He was to discuss the situation in eastern Congo with Angola’s President João Lourenço. Faced with the rebel offensive, soldiers fighting for Congo — many of them mercenaries from other nations — were laying down their weapons at the border with Rwanda. Congo’s army seemed to be in disarray, and those at the border appeared disorganized and ill-equipped for any major fighting. A rebel spokesman said nearly 300 mercenaries have surrendered their arms and returned to their countries. “Let the people of Goma be calm, peace is here,” said Willy Ngoma, a spokesman of the M23 group. Ngoma, who is on the U.N. Security Council’s sanctions list for crimes committed by the rebels. Death toll from Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion rises to 86 “It’s like you are fighting without command,” said Jean Marie Ndahambaza, one of the surrendering soldiers. Armed groups have long vied for control of eastern Congo, which is rich in minerals critical to much of the world’s technology, and has been the scene of proxy battles between Congo and neighboring Rwanda, as well as other powers. Fighting reignited this week, and the rebels backed by Rwanda, known as M23, announced Monday that they had captured much of the provincial capital of Goma.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels announced Monday they had seized Goma, the last government stronghold in eastern Congo’s mineral-rich region. The capture marks a significant escalation in one of Africa’s longest-running conflicts, raising fears of worsening humanitarian conditions and a potential spillover into a broader regional crisis.  The rebel advance has forced thousands to flee their homes, adding to the over one million displaced residents already in Goma. Local hospitals are overwhelmed, treating hundreds of injured civilians caught in the crossfire daily.  Who are the rebels? M23, one of nearly 100 armed groups in eastern Congo, traces its roots to a failed integration of ethnic Tutsis into the Congolese army. Named after a March 23, 2009, peace agreement, the group resurfaced in 2022 following a decade of dormancy after being defeated in 2012.  About 70 people killed in attack on hospital in Sudan's Darfur region, WHO chief says Comprising primarily ethnic Tutsis, M23 claims to protect Tutsis and Congolese of Rwandan descent from discrimination. Critics argue the group’s actions serve as a front for Rwandan influence in eastern Congo.  In areas under their control, M23 has established parallel governance systems, replacing local chiefs, levying taxes, and managing natural resources. The rebels have recently captured multiple towns, encircling Goma as part of their offensive.  Congo, the US, and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from a few hundred fighters in 2021 to an estimated 6,500. Rwanda denies direct involvement but admits it has deployed troops in eastern Congo to protect its security. UN experts estimate there are as many as 4,000 Rwandan soldiers operating in the area.  Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, addressing the UN Security Council on Sunday, accused Rwanda of “direct aggression” and escalating tensions. In response, Rwanda’s UN Ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo placed blame on Congo, stating the crisis stemmed from its lack of commitment to peace.  The roots of the conflict Eastern Congo has long been a hotspot of violence, driven by its vast reserves of valuable minerals, including copper, cobalt, lithium and gold. These resources, worth an estimated $24 trillion, have drawn local and international actors seeking control, often at the expense of the population, 60 per cent of whom live below the poverty line.  The conflict’s origins date back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where Hutu militias killed hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Death toll from Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion rises to 86 After the genocide, nearly two million Hutus, including suspected perpetrators, fled to eastern Congo, intensifying tensions with local Tutsis.  This historical animosity laid the groundwork for years of violence and provided a justification for foreign interventions, particularly by Rwanda, which has cited ongoing threats from Hutu militias in the region.  Strategic importance of Goma Goma serves as a critical hub for trade, security and humanitarian operations in eastern Congo. Its airport is vital for transporting supplies to the region. Since 2021, Congolese government forces, supported by Burundian troops and UN peacekeepers, have struggled to keep the rebels at bay.  The city’s fall represents a major victory for M23 and a devastating loss for the Congolese government. Its capture also raises concerns about heightened risks to civilians, with the UN warning of potential human rights abuses in the aftermath. 

Around 70 people were killed in an attack on the only functional hospital in the besieged city of El Fasher in Sudan, the chief of the World Health Organization said Sunday, part of a series of attacks coming as the African nation's civil war escalated in recent days. The attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital, which local officials blamed on the rebel Rapid Support Forces, came as the group was experiencing apparent battlefield losses to the Sudanese military and allied forces under the command of army chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. That includes Burhan appearing near a burning oil refinery north of Khartoum on Saturday that his forces said they seized from the RSF. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry denounced the attack as “a violation of international law.” International mediation attempts and pressure tactics, including a U.S. assessment that the RSF and its proxies are committing genocide, and sanctions targeting Burhan, haven't halted the fighting. Reported attack follows RSF warning WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted the death toll in the hospital attack in El Fasher on the social platform X. Officials and others in the capital of North Darfur province had cited a similar figure Saturday, but Tedros is the first international source to provide a casualty number. Reporting on Sudan is incredibly difficult given communication challenges, the indiscriminate violence faced by civilians and exaggerations by both the RSF and the Sudanese military. “The appalling attack on Saudi Hospital in El Fasher, Sudan, led to 19 injuries and 70 deaths among patients and companions,” Tedros wrote. “At the time of the attack, the hospital was packed with patients receiving care.” Another health facility in Al Malha also was attacked Saturday, he added. “We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan, and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” Tedros said. “Above all, Sudan’s people need peace. The best medicine is peace.” Read: Sudan's warring forces are escalating attacks and outsiders are 'fueling the fire,' Guterres says Tedros didn't identify who launched the attack, though local officials had blamed the RSF for the assault. Sudan’s Foreign Ministry also accused the RSF of launching a drone attack targeting the hospital’s emergency ward, describing the assault as a “massacre.” U.N. official Clementine Nkweta-Salami, who coordinates humanitarian efforts for the world body in Sudan, warned Thursday that the RSF earlier had given “a 48-hour ultimatum to forces allied to the Sudanese Armed Forces to vacate the city and indicated a forthcoming offensive.” “Since May 2024, El Fasher has been under RSF siege,” she said. “Civilians in El Fasher have already endured months of suffering, violence and gross human rights abuses under the prolonged siege. Their lives now hang in the balance due to an increasingly precarious situation.” In a statement on Sunday night, the RSF alleged that the Sudanese military and its allies attacked the hospital in El Fasher, but offered no evidence to support the claim. El Fasher is more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum. The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the war. The U.N. said in December that the RSF siege had killed 782 civilians and wounded more than 1,140 others, warning that the figures likely were higher. The Saudi hospital, just north of El Fasher's airport, sits near the front lines of the war and has been repeatedly hit by shelling. Still, its doctors continue surgeries, sometimes by the light of cellphones while the hospital is hit. However, the RSF appeared in recent days to have lost control of the Khartoum refinery, the biggest in Sudan and crucial to both its economy and that of South Sudan. Burhan's forces also say they broke another RSF besiegement of the Signal Corps headquarters in northern Khartoum. The rebels claimed they were “tightening the noose” around that base. Sudan’s war sees brutality by fighters Read more: Paramilitary rampage kills over 120 in east-central Sudan: UN Sudan has been unstable since a popular uprising forced the removal of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019. A short-lived transition to democracy was derailed when Burhan and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo of the RSF joined forces to lead a military coup in October 2021. Al-Bashir faces charges at the International Criminal Court over carrying out a genocidal campaign in the early 2000s in the western Darfur region with the Janjaweed, the precursor to the RSF. Rights groups and the U.N. say the RSF and allied Arab militias are again attacking ethnic African groups in this war. The RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country. Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war. On Sunday, Burhan traveled to the military's General Command headquarters in Khartoum, a building he hadn't been to since the fighting broke out in 2023. The headquarters is near Khartoum International Airport, which has seen fierce fighting during the war. “The armed forces are in their best condition and we will move forward with the determination of our people to eliminate the rebellion in all of Sudan,” Burhan said, according to the state-run SUNA news agency.

The death toll from a gasoline tanker explosion in north-central Nigeria has risen to 86, the country’s emergency response agency said on Sunday. The blast happened in the early hours of Saturday near the Suleja area of Niger state after individuals attempted to transfer gasoline from a crashed oil tanker into another truck using a generator. The fuel transfer sparked the explosion, resulting in the deaths of those transferring the gasoline and bystanders. In an update, Hussaini Isah of the National Emergency Management Agency told the Associated Press that an additional 55 people were injured and are receiving treatment at three different hospitals in the Suleja area. Read: Nigerian gasoline tanker explosion kills 70 people “There were people that were burnt to ashes. How can we get that figure?” The official said, indicating that the death toll might be higher than 86. “We won’t know the exact figure without forensics.” The blast claimed so many victims because a crowd had gathered at the scene, including people taking pictures, bystanders, and others attempting to scoop gasoline, Isah said. Gasoline prices in Africa’s most populous country has soared after the administration of President Bola Tinubu removed subsides on the product more than a year ago in an attempt to channel the resources to more developmental purposes. However, the policy has caused untoward hardship. Scooping gasoline from a fallen tanker is common in Nigeria as some people see that as an opportunity to get free product that they could either use or resell for a profit.