In brief
A BBC probe shows that Rapid Support Forces repeatedly struck hospitals in el‑Fasher, Darfur, from May 2024 to October 2025, causing 120 injuries, 55 deaths and 10 abductions of medical staff. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the attacks war crimes. The RSF denied the allegations, claiming the hospitals had become military bases. Meanwhile, the Sudanese military and allies sought to control the city after a brutal siege that began in April 2023.
A BBC investigation has uncovered evidence that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) deliberately targeted hospitals and other health facilities in el‑Fasher, a city in Sudan’s Darfur region, during its prolonged siege that began in May 2024.
The inquiry, based on witnesses on the ground, documents at least 43 separate attacks on medical sites between May 2024 and October 2025, many of which struck the same locations repeatedly. 120 medical workers were injured, 55 killed and 10 were forcibly disappeared.
UN human‑rights chief Volker Türk called the findings “deeply disturbing” and said the attacks amounted to possible war crimes, citing violations of international humanitarian law that makes it unlawful to strike health facilities during conflict.
The RSF and the Sudanese military denied the allegations. RSF‑appointed health minister Dr Alaa Eldin Nugud dismissed the claims as propaganda, arguing that the hospitals were used by enemies and later repurposed as military bases.
The siege began after the civil war erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and the Sudanese army. El‑Fasher’s main hospitals – the Teaching Hospital, South Hospital and Saudi Maternity Hospital – were repeatedly shelled, damaged or destroyed. Even temporary makeshift facilities made to serve patients were struck, forcing closures and disrupting care.
In one documented raid on 8 June 2025, RSF fighters entered the South Hospital. Doctors were forced out through a back wall; a senior surgeon was beaten and left alive only after feigning death.
After the RSF seized the city in October 2025, the remaining functional facility – Saudi Hospital – operated under constant threat. Staff erected sandbags and underground bunkers, yet the hospital was hit a record 25 times in a single day in 2025, prompting the hospital’s closure.
The attacks culminated on 25 October 2025 when the RSF stormed the hospital, allegedly killing more than 460 patients and staff. The RSF denied the massacre; the WHO called the killings “deeply disturbing” and satellite imagery indicated clusters of bodies.
Today the RSF‑backed civilian government controls the city’s health services, claiming to have opened the hospitals again. Doctors and patient advocates warn that the deliberate targeting of medical sites has had a lasting, devastating impact on the city’s fragile public health system.
