Sudanese paramilitary fighters systematically destroyed the healthcare system in el-Fasher during a siege and subsequent takeover. At least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and healthcare sites occurred between May 2024 and October 2025.
From April 2023 to October 2025, 55 medical workers were killed, 120 were injured, and 10 were forcibly disappeared or abducted. Volker Türk stated that multiple attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.
The civil war erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and Sudan's military. In April 2023, the Teaching Hospital in el-Fasher moved its operations to the South Hospital.
The South Hospital was shelled several times in late May and early June 2024, with medical staff operating on 16 injured patients on the day of the first bombing. The RSF raided the South Hospital on 8 June, but the Sudanese military and its allies drove them out.
Dr Alaa Eldin Nugud declared that missile launchers were set up on the grounds of the South Hospital. Staff and equipment from the South Hospital were moved to the Saudi Maternity Hospital, which was struck up to 25 times on some days.
The main dialysis centre was struck and then attacked again after it relocated. The RSF seized el-Fasher in October 2025.
Dr Asow's makeshift surgery was attacked five times in 2025. A hunting drone struck people carrying the injured on 15 March 2025, killing nine people.
The World Health Organization (WHO) condemned the bombing of al-Daein hospital in RSF-held eastern Darfur in March 2026. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said, "We do not know if hospitals are being intentionally targeted, but… the belligerents are not taking any precautions to spare them."
