Israel to send humanitarian aid to South Sudan as it battles deadly cholera outbreak

Israel will provide “urgent” humanitarian aid to South Sudan to address a cholera crisis there, the Foreign Ministry announced on Monday, days after a report suggested that Israel may be in talks with the country’s leadership about plans to resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip there.

The war-torn East African nation has been suffering from a severe cholera outbreak since October 2024, according to the United Nations. As of July 7, there were more than 80,000 confirmed cases across the country, and some 1,400 associated deaths.

In an announcement on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said that “in light of the severe humanitarian crisis in South Sudan,” Israel’s Agency for International Development Coordination, or MASHAV, would “provide urgent humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in the country.”

The aid — which includes medical equipment, water purification supplies, gloves and face masks, special hygiene kits, and food packages — aims to address a cholera outbreak in the young country, which “suffers from a severe shortage of resources,” the statement said.

IsraAID, an Israeli non-governmental organization currently operating in South Sudan, will also assist in the operation, the Foreign Ministry said.

The announcement comes at a time when Israel and South Sudan are reportedly in talks about a plan to resettle Palestinians from the war-torn Gaza Strip in the troubled African nation.

Founded in 2011, South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries and is experiencing renewed political instability and violence, which threatens to unravel a 2018 peace agreement that ended a bloody civil war.

South Sudan’s foreign ministry dismissed reports that Juba was considering taking in Palestinians as “baseless,” although sources familiar with the matter have said that the talks were ongoing, and that an agreement had not yet been reached.

Speaking to Reuters last week, three sources said that the prospect of resettling Palestinians in South Sudan was raised during meetings between Israeli officials and South Sudanese Foreign Minister Monday Semaya Kumba when he visited the country last month.

Arab and world leaders have rejected the idea of moving Gaza’s population out of the Strip, fearing it would become another “Nakba” (catastrophe), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948.

But the possibility was raised repeatedly earlier this year by US President Donald Trump, and has been backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu’s far-right allies have said the government should encourage voluntary migration from the Strip in preparation for Israel annexing and resettling the enclave.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met with Kumba during his visit to Israel last month, and the two “discussed the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, which is worsening, due to the influx of refugees fleeing the war in Sudan,” according to Jerusalem.

Israel established full diplomatic relations with South Sudan less than one month after it gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.

Following Kumba’s visit to Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel traveled to South Sudan last week for the first official visit by an Israeli government representative.

Her office said the purpose of her visit was to discuss “deepening cooperation in the fields of health, education, technology, agriculture, and energy; advancing joint initiatives in civil and security development; strengthening regional cooperation; and exploring options for Israeli humanitarian aid.”