Attacks on a mosque and the only functioning hospital in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher killed at least 20 civilians this week, according to the United Nations.
The U.N. humanitarian office, known as OCHA, said the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces opened fire on the Saudi Hospital and a local mosque on Tuesday and Wednesday. The mosque had been sheltering displaced families.
The Saudi Hospital “is the last functioning medical facility in the city, serving thousands of war-affected people,” OCHA said in a statement Thursday. The agency condemned the attacks on civilian infrastructure.
In a separate statement, the U.N. reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said Tuesday’s attack targeted the hospital’s maternity ward, killing 12 people and injuring many others, including patients and health workers.
“This marks the third attack on the hospital in one week,” UNFPA said, calling for an immediate end to hostilities and the protection of civilians and health facilities.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said people in El Fasher are cut off from aid and that their “last lifeline for medical care is under threat.”
“The targeting of hospitals is to be condemned and never acceptable,” Dujarric told reporters in New York.
El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, has been under a tight siege for over a year and is the last major city in the region held by Sudan’s military.
The RSF, which evolved from the Janjaweed militias notorious for atrocities in Darfur two decades ago, has intensified artillery and drone attacks on the city in recent months.
The fight for El Fasher is a key battle in the wider civil war that has raged across Sudan since April 2023 between the military and the RSF. The conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with over 30 million people in need of assistance and around 12 million displaced.
The number of people in El Fasher has plummeted as civilians flee the violence. Humanitarian groups estimate the population in the area has fallen from 700,000 in March to about 200,000 in September. Thousands have fled to nearby towns like Tawila, which now hosts some 600,000 displaced people.
The U.N. has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, safe humanitarian access and greater protection for civilians in El Fasher.