PM Netanyahu says Israeli planes have started overflying Sudan

Israeli commercial planes have started overflying Sudan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, casting the new air corridor as the result of a breakthrough meeting with the African Muslim country’s de-facto leader this month.

Khartoum said on Feb. 5 it had given Israeli planes initial approval to fly over its territory, two days after Sudan’s military head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, met Netanyahu in Uganda.

“Now we’re discussing rapid normalization. The first Israeli airplane passed yesterday over the skies of Sudan,” Netanyahu said in a speech to U.S. Jewish leaders, saying the route cut some three hours off flights from Israel to South America.

Sudan, mindful of pro-Palestinian sensitivities, has stopped short of saying it is normalizing ties with Israel.

Israel previously considered Sudan a security threat because it suspected Iran used Sudan as a conduit for overland smuggling of munitions to the Gaza Strip. In 2009, regional sources said, Israeli aircraft bombed an arms convoy in Sudan.