At a press conference Thursday night at Ben Gurion Airport, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced he had met with Sudanese military ruler Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and that the two countries are advancing the normalization of ties. Cohen said he expects Sudan to formally join the Abraham Accords by the end of the year.

Sudan initially agreed to join the Abraham Accords during the visit of US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in January 2021. Mnuchin and his Sudanese counterpart signed off on Sudan’s accession to the normalization deal with Israel after the United States removed Sudan from its list of countries that support terrorism. Sudan pledged to reduce its debt to the World Bank and received in return a commitment of significant annual US economic assistance. Sudan did not sign a parallel agreement with Israel.

In the ensuing period, Sudan underwent a military coup and unrest continues to plague the restored civilian government, while Israel has also undergone a regime change and faces pro-democracy unrest, making this week's developments seem a public relations ploy by two embattled governments.

Haim Koren, Israel’s first ambassador to South Sudan, spoke to Al-Monitor this week. "We must not forget that the Sudanese have already joined the Abraham Accords," he said. He went on, "They were the last to join and this happened due to their commitment to fight terrorism and distance themselves from Iran and their rapprochement with the moderate Sunni states, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Now they are trying to renew the momentum and increase cooperation and the effort to reach real normalization because there is a difference between a signature and the mechanism itself."