Sudan: For the few who couldn’t flee this neighbourhood in Khartoum North life will never be the same
It has only been a week since the army reclaimed pockets of Khartoum North – the once bustling north-eastern wing of Sudan’s tri-city capital, locally known as Khartoum Bahri.
The hum of warplanes and crack of gunfire still punctuate life here. But the gunfire is now outgoing, and the warplanes are searching for enemy targets that have been pushed further back.
A year-and-a-half long siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is now over for some. But the scars still mark the streets, the homes and the few families still in them.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled Khartoum Bahri to safer states within Sudan, neighbouring countries and beyond.
There was a haunting emptiness when we arrived in Halfaya – an old tight-knit neighbourhood where families live for generations, expanding to only move across the narrow dirt roads.
Sudan’s army reclaimed pockets of Khartoum North last week
Today, overgrown vines reach into the shattered windows of cars abandoned in the yards of their owners.
Inside, the homes are overturned, looted and destroyed by bullets and missiles.
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All that was left behind – photo albums, pencil cases, clothes and books – mean everything to a select few. Many left hoping it would only be a short while before they could return.
Faiza says she had to hide her daughter to protect her from rape by RSF soldiers
But not everyone could leave.
“We don’t have a single penny to leave with. We didn’t have anything and never expected this,” Faiza Ishaq tells us in front of her home.
“I don’t have any family here – all my people left. I’m just with my two children and husband.”
Other than a handful of remaining neighbours, we are the first civilians Faiza has seen in close to 18 months of war.
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‘They started killing people in the streets’
She collapsed into sobs on my shoulder soon after we happily hugged each other hello. In a moment, her new sense of relief was overshadowed by months of deep horror and grief.
“Since they came a year and a half ago, I developed a tremor in my whole body. My hands shake so much I can’t eat without spilling food,” says Faiza, visibly trembling.
“We have been living in such terror – they can jump the wall at 2am. They hurl insults at us and threaten to take my 12-year-old daughter.”
She says their neighbours were killed by the RSF while fighting to protect their two sisters from rape. Her utmost fear was that her young daughter would be next in line.
“They would say to me ‘give me your daughter to marry or we’ll take her’. When they would come to the house, I locked her in the bathroom.”
The little food and support they could find under siege came from around the corner. Her neighbour Sumaya has turned her house into a community kitchen.
With the markets emptied, the chicken coup in the corner of her yard and grains bought with donations raised from Sudanese people abroad were used to feed as many remaining families as possible in the harshest of conditions.
“The fear and trauma have made us sick. We were never like this – we are finished,” says Sumaya.
“We have all lost weight and feel weak because they could knock the door at any moment. If someone knocked on the door without saying my name I felt gripped by fear.”
Firas has malaria for the fourth time since the war started
As we stood there and spoke in the heat of the day, one of the community volunteers, Firas, had to go and lie down.
He has malaria for the fourth time since the war started. Even in the wake of this military gain, movement and medical treatment in the capital is severely limited.
“I faint two to three times in a month from a lack of nutrition,” says Firas.
He has survived army airstrikes, RSF harassment and the dangerous work on electrical cables he has had to risk to keep the power on in the neighbourhood.
“It really was kill or be killed. We told our families that if we die, just forgive us.”
The Israeli military has said that a ceasefire in Gaza would hold after the truce was seriously tested by an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and a wave of airstrikes that killed 36 Palestinians.
Aid supplies into the enclave are due to resume on Monday following US pressure, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel announced a halt in supplies in response to what it called a “blatant” violation by Hamas of the truce.
A little over a week has passed since the start of the US-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.
Israel‘s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled, according to agreed-upon ceasefire lines.
The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery, hitting dozens of Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.
Health officials said at least 36 Palestinians were killed across Gaza, including children.
An injured child is carried to Nasser Hospital after an airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
One airstrike hit a former school sheltering displaced families in the area of Nuseirat, killing four people, according to Al Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.
Another hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least four people, including a woman and two children, according to Nasser Hospital.
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Violence that plagues Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but did not threaten to return to war.
The armed wing of Hamas continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, but said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement.
It said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months, adding “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas”.
Children were injured and some were killed in Sunday’s strikes, local health officials say. Pic: AP
In a statement on social media on Sunday evening, the IDF said it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire, in line with the terms of the agreement”.
“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it,” it added.
An Israeli source told Sky News: “The bottom line is that we’re done responding. We are now back to where we were this morning before their attack.”
Fearing the truce may collapse, some Palestinians, many of whom have lacked sufficient food for months, rushed to buy goods from the main market in Nuseirat.
Further south in Khan Younis, other families fled their homes and shelters after airstrikes hit nearby.
Major hurdles still stand in the way of a long-lasting peace in Gaza. An earlier ceasefire collapsed in March when Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes.
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Ceasefire faces toughest test
The new ceasefire began on 10 October, but for days the Israeli government and Hamas have been trading accusations of ceasefire violations.
A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were under way to de-escalate the situation.
Israel on Saturday pressed Hamas to returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages as promised under the ceasefire, saying the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice”.
Hamas says it has no reason to keep the bodies of the remaining hostages, but that it needs special equipment
recover corpses buried under rubble.
A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil al Hayya has arrived in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups.
The next stages are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.
The US plan proposes the establishment of an internationally-backed authority.
World
‘Priceless’ jewellery stolen from Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities reveal details of daring raid
“Priceless” jewellery has been stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities revealed details of the daring raid that has forced the closure of the world famous landmark.
The museum, which is the world’s most popular, drawing up to 30,000 visitors a day, said on X it was closing for “exceptional reasons” on Sunday.
In a separate post, culture minister Rachida Dati said there had been a robbery and she was on site alongside museum and police teams.
Police working by a basket lift used by thieves at the Louvre museum in Paris. Pic: AP
The Louvre museum in Paris. File pic: AP
French interior minister Laurent Nunez said the “major robbery” involved intruders entering the museum via a basket lift using a platform mounted on a lorry.
“They broke a window and went towards several display cases where they stole jewellery,” he added.
“These are jewels that have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless.”
Mr Nunez told France Inter radio the robbery lasted seven minutes, while the interior ministry said the criminals fled on two motorbikes. No injuries have been reported.
The robbers were well-prepared, Mr Nunez said, and “had done scouting”, cutting window panes “with a disc cutter” before escaping “on a TMAX” (a type of Yamaha maxi-scooter).
The robbery took place between 9.30 and 9.40am (8.30-8.40am UK time), the French government said in a statement, adding an investigation has begun, forensic work was under way and “a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled”.
Hooded criminals carrying “small chainsaws” entered the building from the River Seine side, where construction work is taking place, French daily newspaper, Le Parisien, said, quoting preliminary findings from the police investigation.
A window believed to have been used in a robbery at the Louvre museum in Paris. Pic: Reuters
Thieves used a basket lift mounted on a lorry to rob the Louvre. Pic: AP
Intruders went to the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to a selection of the French Crown Jewels, the ministry said.
The robbers escaped with nine pieces of jewellery from Napoleon and the Empress’s collection.
A necklace, a brooch, a tiara, were among the items taken from the Napoleon and French Sovereigns display cases. A third robber stayed outside, Le Parisien said.
One of the stolen gems was later found broken outside the museum, according to the paper, which said it was believed to be Empress Eugenie’s crown.
Police sealed off the museum and evacuated visitors. New arrivals were turned away and nearby streets were closed, according to the interior ministry.
Social media users posted pictures and videos from in and outside the building, with one people leaving in what the user described as “total panic”.
Robbers broke in on the Seine side of the museum. Pic: Reuters
On person on X said they were there and reported a confused-sounding scene of police “running near pyramid and trying to enter the Louvre from glass side doors but they were locked and they could not enter”.
“Everyone inside was running and banging on glass doors to get out, but could not open. Police and military police arrived,” they added.
It’s not the first time the museum, one of the world’s most famous and a French national landmark, has been targeted by thieves.
In 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat.
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It was recovered two years later in Florence – an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.
In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armour were stolen and only recovered nearly four decades later.
The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting, containing 33,000 works of art, including antiquities, sculptures and paintings.
In addition to the Mona Lisa, its star attractions feature the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
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Israel has received the bodies of two more hostages from the Red Cross, the Israeli prime minister’s office has confirmed.
Shortly after 10pm UK time on Saturday, Israel’s military said Hamas handed over “two coffins of deceased hostages”.
There has been no identification of the bodies yet.
The news came as tensions were beginning to rise over the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office had said earlier on Saturday evening that it would stay closed “until further notice” – as the deadline for Hamas to return the bodies of the hostages had passed with no confirmation.
Mr Netanyahu had warned that its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfilled its role in returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages.
The handover brings the count of returned bodies to 12 hostages, up from 10, according to Israel’s tally. Another 16 deceased hostages would then still have to be returned.
All 28 were supposed to have been handed over by last Monday.
The handover of remains is among key points – along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future – in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.
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Rafah crossing to remain closed
Israel’s foreign ministry had originally said the Rafah crossing would likely reopen on Sunday – another step in the fragile ceasefire. This has now been revised to being closed “until further notice”.
A satellite image shows the back-up of aid trucks at the border from the air. Pic: ©2025 Vantor/Reuters
A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel internationally or visit family in Egypt, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.
It is unclear who will operate the crossing’s heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends.
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Meanwhile, Gaza’s ruins were being scoured for the dead, over a week into a ceasefire. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
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Gaza health authorities struggling to identify bodies
Violence that plagues Gaza
The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. But the ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.
Famine declared
Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on October 7 2023.
Gaza’s more than two million people are hoping the ceasefire will bring relief from the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive. Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid entry to Gaza – sometimes halting it altogether.
Famine was declared in Gaza City, and the UN says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.
Officials in Israel say they have let in enough food, accusing Hamas of stealing much of it. The UN and other aid agencies deny this claim.
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