The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Sudanese officials have reported that hundreds of civilians are feared dead after the last operational hospital in al-Fashir, Sudan, was raided following the city’s capture by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) earlier this week.
The Saudi Hospital in al-Fashir, which had been treating malnutrition, trauma, and maternity cases amid severe shortages, came under attack after the RSF seized the Sudanese army’s final stronghold in the city on Sunday. Communications in the area have since been cut off, leaving the full scale of casualties unclear.
Darfur state governor Minni Minawi said on Wednesday that at least 460 people were killed in the hospital assault, though the figures could not be independently verified. Two Sudanese doctors’ groups and an activist network also claimed hundreds were killed in and around makeshift wards at the facility.
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The WHO confirmed that four doctors, a nurse, and a pharmacist were abducted from the hospital, citing multiple eyewitness accounts and government sources. Satellite imagery released by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab showed signs consistent with mass casualties around the hospital site.
The RSF denied the accusations, claiming all hospitals in al-Fashir had been abandoned.
Al-Fashir, home to more than 200,000 people before the offensive, had been under RSF siege for 18 months. The International Organisation for Migration said over 36,000 residents have fled since Sunday, with fears mounting of widespread revenge killings.
Rights groups and U.S. officials have accused the RSF and allied militias of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, echoing atrocities from earlier conflicts in the region.
The WHO condemned the attack, calling it part of a pattern of deliberate assaults on health facilities during the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which began in April 2023.
