Sudan’s army admitted on Monday it had withdrawn from the strategic hub of El-Fasher, while the United Nations issued a stark warning over reports of “atrocities” by the paramilitary group now in control of the city.Fears have mounted for the safety of tens of thousands of civilians in the city in western Darfur, trapped in an 18-month siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been fighting a brutal war with Sudan’s army for more than two years.”We have agreed to withdraw the army from El-Fasher to a safer location,” the army chief and de facto ruler of Sudan, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said in a speech broadcast on national television, after the RSF announced victory on Sunday.Burhan also vowed revenge and to fight “until this land is purified”.The capture of El-Fasher could mark a significant turning point in Sudan’s war, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 12 million people since April 2023.The city’s capture gives the RSF control over all five state capitals in Darfur, consolidating its parallel administration in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur.The army is now confined to the north, east and centre of Sudan and is excluded from a third of Sudanese territory, a development, experts say, which raises the possibility the country could face partition.”This represents a terrible escalation in the conflict,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in answer to an AFP question, adding that “the level of suffering that we are witnessing in Sudan is unbearable”.UN rights chief Volker Turk spoke of a growing risk of “ethnically motivated violations and atrocities” in El-Fasher.- ‘Summary executions’ -His office said it was “receiving multiple, alarming reports that the Rapid Support Forces are carrying out atrocities, including summary executions”.The UN Human Rights Office said the reports consisted of “summary execution of civilians trying to flee, with indications of ethnic motivations for killings”, as well as videos showing “dozens of unarmed men being shot or lying dead, surrounded by RSF fighters who accuse them of being (Sudanese army) fighters”.A video released by local activists and authenticated by AFP shows a fighter known for executing civilians in RSF-controlled areas shooting a group of unarmed civilians sitting on the ground at point-blank range.Footage shared by pro-democracy activists purportedly showed dozens of people lying dead on the ground alongside burned-out vehicles.AFP was unable to contact civilians in the city, where the Sudanese Journalists’ Syndicate says communications, including satellite networks, have been cut off by a media blackout.The syndicate expressed “deep concern for the safety of journalists” in El-Fasher, adding that independent reporter Muammar Ibrahim has been detained by RSF forces since Sunday.The UN Human Rights Office noted hundreds of people have reportedly been detained while trying to flee, including a journalist.The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) expressed outrage at the attack on the only hospital still partially operational in El-Fasher.”According to reports, a nurse lost her life and three other health workers were injured” on Sunday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.The army-aligned governor of Darfur called for the protection of civilians in El-Fasher and demanded “an independent investigation into the violations and massacres carried out by the militia away from public view”.- ‘Turning a blind eye’ -According to the UN, more than one million people have fled the city since the start of the war and around 260,000 civilians, half of them children, remain trapped in El-Fasher without aid, where many have resorted to eating animal fodder.The UN’s migration agency said more than 26,000 people had fled the fighting in El-Fasher since Sunday, either seeking safety in the outskirts of the city or heading to Tawila, 70 kilometres (45 miles) to the west.In Tawila, teams from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said they were facing a massive influx of wounded “coming from El-Fasher to the overwhelmed town’s hospital”.Since Sunday evening, 130 have been hospitalised, including 15 in critical condition, MSF said in a statement.The RSF said they were conducting “comprehensive search and clean-up operations” to “eliminate the last pockets of terrorists and mercenaries”.The paramilitary group also claimed to have deployed teams to “protect civilians,” and “secure the streets” by clearing away ordnance and debris.The Emergency Lawyers, a group which has been documenting atrocities in Sudan, accused paramilitaries of “deliberately turning a blind eye to the actions of their members who carry out mass executions of civilians and prisoners”, denouncing “systematic practices amounting to war crimes.”The UN last month voiced alarm over potential massacres targeting non-Arab communities in El-Fasher, similar to those reported after the RSF captured the nearby Zamzam camp in April.Now well into its third year, the war has spiralled into what the United Nations describes as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.

Hamas handed over the remains of a deceased hostage on Monday as the Palestinian group came under increasing pressure to return its remaining deceased captives as promised under the Gaza ceasefire.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israeli forces had received a coffin containing what Hamas said was the sixteenth of 28 bodies of hostages taken in the October 7, 2023 attacks.The Israeli military and security service were to take the coffin from Gaza to Israel, where it will be received in a military ceremony before being brought to the national forensic institute for identification and eventual return to the hostage’s family.”All of the hostages’ families have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour. The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned,” the statement said.- Deadline missed -An informed source within Hamas confirmed the handover. “The body of an Israeli captive that was recovered today in the Gaza Strip has been handed over to the Red Cross,” the source told AFP.The latest exchange came as both senior Israeli officials and an association representing the families of the October 7 hostages demanded that Hamas speed up the transfer, which has slowed since it released its 20 living captives.”Hamas knows exactly where every one of the deceased hostages is held. Two weeks have passed since the deadline set in the agreement for the return of all 48 hostages, yet 13 remain in Hamas captivity,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said.”The families urge the government of Israel, the United States administration and the mediators not to advance to the next phase of the agreement until Hamas fulfils all of its obligations and returns every hostage to Israel,” the association said.Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem protested that the claim that the group knows the location of the remaining missing bodies is “false”, arguing that Israel’s bombardment during the two-year conflict had left locations unrecognisable.”We affirm our commitment to completing the first phase of the ceasefire agreement to prevent the occupation from finding any pretexts,” he said, referring to Palestinians’ fears that Israel could renew military action despite the truce.  “We are determined to hand over the bodies of the Israeli captives as soon as possible,” he said.- Search for bodies -During their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Hamas militants took 251 people hostage, most of whom had been released, rescued or recovered before this month’s ceasefire.The attack itself resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza killed at least 68,527 people, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the UN considers reliable.On Monday, Israel lifted the state of emergency for areas near the border with Gaza for the first time since the 2023 attack, Defence Minister Israel Katz announced.Hamas says it is committed to the ceasefire and insists it is trying to return all the remaining bodies — 11 Israelis and two workers from Thailand and Tanzania — but that the search has been hampered by the destruction wrought on Gaza during the war.In the past two days, Egypt has sent recovery crews and heavy earth-moving equipment into Gaza, with Israeli approval, to help with the recovery operation.Israeli spokeswoman Shosh Bedrosian said a team of Red Cross staff, Egyptian rescuers and a Hamas member were searching for bodies and had been allowed to cross the so-called Yellow Line into the area of Gaza controlled by Israeli forces.A Red Cross spokesperson also confirmed it was part of the search team.- Opposition to Turkey -No firm timescale has been put on the next stages of the Gaza truce plan, but US President Donald Trump’s administration is working to set up an international security force with troops from Arab and Muslim nations to police the truce.Israel has voiced strong opposition to Turkey’s participation in the proposed security force.Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said that, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey had “led a hostile approach against Israel, that included not only hostile statements, but also diplomatic and economic measures against Israel”. “So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip, and we will not agree to that, and we said it to our American friends,” he added, at a news conference during a visit to Budapest.The US military has also set up a coordination centre in southern Israel to monitor the ceasefire and to coordinate aid and reconstruction, but aid agencies are pushing for greater access for humanitarian convoys inside Gaza.Israel has withdrawn its forces from Gaza’s main cities, but still controls around half of the territory from positions on the Yellow Line, and has resisted calls to allow aid through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.