Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan's RSF fighters, BBC investigation finds
A BBC investigation has found Sudan's Rapid Support Forces systematically destroyed the healthcare system of el-Fasher in Darfur, documenting at least 43 attacks on hospitals and health sites — findings the UN's human rights chief says may amount to war crimes.
A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces systematically destroyed the healthcare system of el-Fasher in Darfur during their long siege and takeover of the city a year ago. The investigation documents at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and health sites between May 2024 and October 2025, with some facilities hit multiple times.
The human cost was severe. The investigation counted 120 medical workers injured, 55 killed and 10 abducted or forcibly disappeared between April 2023 and October 2025. Doctors operated by phone light on the day their own hospital was bombed, and medical teams kept moving care from site to site as each facility was struck.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings deeply disturbing, saying the multiple attacks by the RSF on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to war crimes. The World Health Organization described el-Fasher as one of the clearest and most severe examples of the conflict's impact on healthcare in Sudan.
The RSF has rejected the findings. Its health minister described the allegations as propaganda and claimed one hospital was being used as a military base — a claim doctors who worked there denied, and for which the BBC said it found no independent evidence.
Reporting based on coverage from BBC News.