Twelve people were killed and 17 others injured in a direct airstrike by the Rapid Support Forces on El Fasher Hospital today (Wednesday). Health sources reported that among the wounded were a female doctor and nursing staff who were performing their humanitarian duty to save lives inside the hospital.

The Sudan Doctors Network condemned the targeting of a hospital crowded with patients and medical staff, describing it as a fully constituted war crime that clearly shows total disregard for civilian lives and international laws protecting healthcare facilities and workers. The network held the Rapid Support Forces fully responsible for this deliberate strike, calling on the international community and humanitarian organizations to urgently intervene to stop these violations and the bombing of service facilities, hospitals, and citizens’ homes, and to protect what remains of the collapsed health system in El Fasher.

Sources confirmed that the maternity and women’s ward of El Fasher Hospital was hit by a drone strike launched by the Rapid Support Forces, causing damage to buildings and equipment.

Many medical and health facilities have been bombed since the outbreak of the war in Sudan between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April 2023.

El Fasher Hospital is one of the few health institutions still operating in North Darfur State.

Yesterday (Tuesday), the Sudanese army announced it had taken control of advanced defensive positions belonging to the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State in western Sudan. The army said in a statement that its forces carried out special operations today, clearing some advanced defensive positions of the Rapid Support Forces in El Fasher after inflicting losses in equipment and lives. It added that its forces seized fully equipped combat vehicles and destroyed six other vehicles, including armored ones. The army noted that the Rapid Support Forces launched an attack on the southern axis of El Fasher city, but its forces repelled it and inflicted heavy losses.

The Rapid Support Forces have imposed a siege on El Fasher since May 2024, while the Sudanese army seeks to regain control of the city, which is the humanitarian operations center for the five Darfur states.

El Fasher holds great strategic importance, as its recapture could mark the beginning of a comprehensive defeat for the Rapid Support Forces, which have lost many of their power cards after losing control of Khartoum last August.

Recently, the Rapid Support Forces’ control areas have rapidly shrunk across various Sudanese states in favor of the army, which has expanded its control to include Khartoum, White Nile, and North Kordofan states.