AFRICA – Several women have taken their lives in Sudan’s central Gezira state after being raped by paramilitary fighters in the brutal civil war raging in the country, rights groups and activists have said. The reports come after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) was accused by the UN of “atrocious crimes”, including mass killings, in the state last week. With RSF fighters continuing to advance, one rights group has told the BBC it is in contact with six women who are contemplating taking their own lives as they fear being sexually assaulted. But the RSF has dismissed a recent UN report blaming a rise in sexual violence on its combatants, telling the BBC the accusations “were not based on evidence”. The vicious struggle for power between the army and RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and forced more than 11 million people from their homes since the conflict began in April 2023. The head of the UN World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, visited the aid hub of Port Sudan this week, and told the BBC that the country could see the world’s largest-ever humanitarian crisis if a ceasefire is not reached. She warned that millions of people could die from starvation.

Reports of paramilitary fighters on the rampage in Gezira follow the recent defection to the army of Abu Aqla Kayka, the RSF’s top commander in the state. “The RSF started a revenge campaign in areas under the control of Abu Kayka. They looted, killed civilians who were resisting and raped women and little girls”,  Hala al-Karib, head of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (Siha), told the BBC. Siha, which has been documenting gender-based violence in Sudan during the war, had confirmed three cases of suicide by women over the last week in Gezira state, she said. (BBC)…[+]

ISRAEL – Two separate Hezbollah rocket attacks have killed seven people in northern Israel, authorities say – the deadliest such strikes in months. An Israeli farmer and four foreign agricultural workers were killed when rockets landed near Metula, a town on the border with Lebanon, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said. Later, a woman in her 60s and a man around 30 were killed near Kibbutz Afek, on the outskirts of the coastal city of Haifa, according to paramedics. Hezbollah said it had fired barrages of rockets towards the Krayot area north of Haifa and at Israeli forces south of the Lebanese town of Khiam, which is across the border from Metula. The Israeli military identified two projectiles crossing from Lebanon and falling in an open area near Metula on Thursday morning.

In the afternoon, it said about 55 projectiles were fired towards the Central Galilee, Upper Galilee and Western Galilee regions. Some of the projectiles were intercepted and others fell in open areas, it added. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the farmer and the foreign workers were killed in an agricultural area near Metula. It cited a member of the local emergency response team as saying the Israeli military had permitted the farmer and workers to enter the area despite it being inside a closed military zone. The military established the zone at the end of September, just before it launched a ground invasion of Lebanon with the aim of destroying Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure.

The deadly rocket attacks came as two US special envoys met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss a possible ceasefire deal to end the war with Hezbollah. (BBC)

Photo: Smoke was seen rising from the Israeli town of Metula following a Hezbollah rocket attack. (AFP)…[+]