Israeli diplomats told Al-Monitor Monday that the current conflict between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) will delay the finalization of the normalization between Israel and Sudan, in process since 2020.

Sudanese leaders have said in recent months that normalization will be concluded only after the establishment of a civilian transition government.

Since 1958 and until two years ago, Sudan considered Israel an enemy country, hosting al-Qaeda leaders under Omar al-Bashir, who was overthrown in 2019, and enabling Iran to transfer weapons to Gaza through its territories. When Sudan severed its ties with Iran in 2016, the thaw with Israel began.

Israel’s rapprochement with Sudan intensified a few months before the signing of the Abraham Accords, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting Sudan's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Uganda in February 2020. Netanyahu said at the time that he was working with Burhan to establish diplomatic relations. In January 2021, Sudan signed a declaration paving the way toward normalization, and in April that year, it approved a bill abolishing a 1958 boycott of the country.