Sudan hospital massacre El Fasher
Reports indicate that a paramilitary force in Sudan has killed hundreds of patients and companions at a hospital, in what is now being widely described as a massacre and a grave breach of international humanitarian law. The incident occurred in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, and involves the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to a statement by World Health Organization (WHO), more than 460 patients and those accompanying them were reportedly shot dead at the partly-functioning Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher on 28 October. The hospital had already sustained earlier attacks in the days prior.
Witnesses and displaced residents say the RSF fighters moved through the hospital wards executing anyone they found there, including patients, visitors and medical staff. Satellite imagery and local testimonies suggest that the takeover of El Fasher by the RSF followed an 18-month siege. In the aftermath, survivors described once-active hospitals being turned into scenes of systematic killings.
International and humanitarian agencies have condemned the actions. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated his agency was “appalled and deeply shocked” by the reports, calling for immediate protection of health care facilities, patients and medical staff. With the city now under RSF control, humanitarian groups warn of broader ethnic-based violence echoing earlier atrocities in the Darfur region.
The scale of the killings remains difficult to verify fully, but the evidence gathered so far video footage, satellite images, and field reports points to a major atrocity. The situation has triggered an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council and renewed calls for accountability.
