# Sudan’s RSF Accused of Systematic Hospital Attacks in El‑Fasher, Leaving Care System Shattered

*Friday, October 23, 2026 at 8:06 AM UTC — Hamer Intelligence Services Desk*

**Published**: 2026-10-23T08:06:51.031Z (3h ago)
**Category**: humanitarian | **Region**: Africa
**Importance**: 8/10
**Sources**: OSINT
**Permalink**: https://hamerintel.com/data/articles/21308.md
**Source**: https://hamerintel.com/summaries

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**Deck**: A BBC investigation says Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces carried out at least 43 attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites during their siege and capture of El‑Fasher, killing at least 120 medical staff and patients. The findings paint a picture of health care turned into a battlefield tactic in Darfur’s war, with civilians bearing the cost.

Health workers and patients in Sudan’s Darfur region appear to have been treated as fair game in one of the most brutal chapters of the country’s civil war.

An investigation by the BBC has documented what it describes as systematic attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on hospitals and healthcare facilities in the city of El‑Fasher between May 2024 and October 2025, during the group’s siege and eventual takeover of the last army‑held stronghold in Darfur. The report identified at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites and said at least 120 medical staff and patients were killed.

The findings point to a pattern that goes far beyond the chaos of stray shells or misdirected gunfire. The RSF, a powerful paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s national army, is accused of repeatedly targeting facilities that were clearly marked as medical, including hospitals treating civilians wounded in earlier clashes. The BBC’s reporting suggests these were not isolated incidents but part of a sustained campaign that left El‑Fasher’s care system in ruins.

For ordinary residents, the collapse of medical infrastructure is as deadly as any frontline battle. Patients undergoing surgery, women in childbirth, children being treated for malnutrition and trauma victims from nearby fighting all saw the places they relied on for survival turned into targets. Every doctor or nurse killed or forced to flee represents not just a life lost but a permanent loss of capacity in a region already short of trained staff.

Under international humanitarian law, hospitals and medical personnel enjoy special protection, even in active combat zones. Deliberate attacks on them can qualify as war crimes. A pattern of repeated strikes on marked facilities raises the stakes further, suggesting an attempt to terrorize populations, deny care to wounded adversaries or punish communities seen as sympathetic to the other side.

Strategically, the neutralization of El‑Fasher’s health system serves several RSF objectives. It deters residents from staying in contested areas, accelerates displacement, and weakens the army’s ability to treat its own casualties. It also deepens the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, potentially overwhelming aid agencies and local authorities and leaving the RSF as one of the few organized forces with the capacity to control scarce resources.

The alleged assault on healthcare in El‑Fasher fits a wider pattern of extreme violence in Darfur that has drawn comparisons to the region’s earlier conflicts in the 2000s, including ethnically targeted killings and village burnings. Turning hospitals into battlefields or military objectives erodes one of the last remaining lines of protection for civilians.

When hospitals are systematically attacked, war doesn’t just kill people directly; it tears out the systems that keep them alive from disease, childbirth complications and treatable injuries. That is the long tail of harm that will haunt Darfur long after front lines move or ceasefires are announced.

The key questions now are whether international bodies, including the UN and International Criminal Court, formally investigate the attacks in El‑Fasher, whether sanctions or targeted measures are imposed on RSF leaders deemed responsible, and if humanitarian agencies can negotiate security guarantees for the remaining health facilities in Darfur. Concrete steps to rebuild and protect medical infrastructure will be an early test of any peace or stabilization efforts in the region.