Dozens of Patients and Doctors Killed or Injured in RSF Shelling of Saudi Hospital in El-Fashir

At least 12 people were killed and more than 17 others, including patients and medical staff, were injured on Tuesday in an artillery attack launched by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia that targeted a medical facility in El-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur State.

The city has been under continuous artillery and drone attacks by the RSF militia, which has also carried out daily assaults on El-Fashir since May 10, 2024.

These attacks have resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties and the displacement of thousands.

During September, RSF militia attacks on El-Fashir intensified significantly as part of a bid to seize control of the city — the only area in Darfur’s five states that remains under the control of the Sudanese Armed Forces.

In a statement, the Sudan Doctors Union described the incident as “a new crime added to the record of horrific atrocities against civilians,” confirming that the Saudi Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynecology in El-Fashir came under direct shelling, resulting in the death of 12 people and injury of 17 others, including a female doctor and nursing staff who were performing their humanitarian duty to save lives inside the hospital.

The statement stressed that targeting a hospital filled with patients and medical workers constitutes a full-fledged war crime and demonstrates blatant disregard for civilian lives and international laws protecting health facilities and medical personnel.

The Union held the RSF militia fully responsible for the deliberate attack and urged the international community and humanitarian organizations to take immediate action to halt such violations, stop the bombing of hospitals and residential areas, and protect what remains of the collapsing health system in El-Fashir.

It added that continued international silence over these atrocities amounts to deliberate complicity as the RSF militia persists in killing civilians in their homes and targeting doctors and patients inside hospitals.

The Saudi Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynecology is the only functioning medical facility in El-Fashir, yet it has been subjected to repeated artillery and drone attacks by the RSF militia, in what appears to be an attempt to destroy it completely and drive it out of service.