Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been accused of massacring hundreds of patients and medical staff at the Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Sudan Doctors Network. The hospital attack, which reportedly claimed more than 460 lives, comes as the paramilitary group asserts full control over the city following months of brutal fighting.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the killings, while the Sudan Doctors Network described the assault as a “cold-blooded” massacre. The RSF, which now holds all five capitals of the Darfur region, has been accused of widespread atrocities since conflict erupted in April 2023 between the group and Sudan’s national army.
El Fasher, once home to over a million people, has endured a devastating siege since May 2024. Humanitarian agencies declared famine in the nearby Zamzam camp last year, where the RSF killed up to 2,000 people when seizing the area. Witnesses report that civilians in El Fasher were hunted house to house, stripped of possessions, and, in many cases, executed or sexually assaulted.
The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab confirmed “evidence consistent with mass killing,” using satellite imagery that revealed clusters of bodies and signs of violence around the hospital and other RSF detention sites.
RSF leader Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, acknowledged “abuses” by his forces and announced an internal investigation, though details remain unclear. The United States had already declared RSF’s actions in Darfur as genocide earlier this year, echoing atrocities committed by the Janjaweed militias from which the group evolved.
As the international community calls for accountability, survivors continue to flee to overcrowded camps, fearing further violence. Analysts warn that the death toll in El Fasher could eventually reach thousands, marking one of the darkest chapters in Sudan’s ongoing civil war.
