Tragic Assault on Hospital in El-Fasher Claims 13 Lives Amid Ongoing Siege

At least 13 people have been killed after an attack on one of the last remaining hospitals in el-Fasher, a Sudanese city trapped under siege.

Sixteen others, including a doctor and nurse, were injured after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled Saudi hospital several times on Tuesday night, a source there told the BBC. A group of Sudanese medics has called the attack a war crime.

Pictures showed shattered windows, cracks from shrapnel, a gaping hole in the mud-brick wall, and twisted metal from hospital beds covering the floor.

The RSF has been besieging el-Fasher for more than 17 months, leaving hundreds of thousands of people stuck in the city, facing starvation.

The paramilitary group is fighting the army for full control of el-Fasher, the last military stronghold in the vast Darfur region.

This is the second strike on the Saudi hospital this year - the first in January killed three children and injured three others. The latest shelling ripped through part of the hospital, destroying wards.

In recent weeks, the RSF has intensified its assault on el-Fasher, leading experts to believe the city could soon fall unless the army receives immediate reinforcements.

The two sides have been engaged in a ferocious civil war for more than two years, causing the world's worst humanitarian crisis and tens of thousands of deaths.

The incessant fighting in el-Fasher has forced most health facilities to shut. Aid convoys carrying food and healthcare have been blocked from reaching civilians.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for urgent measures to protect civilians, stating, After over 500 days of unremitting siege by the RSF, el-Fasher is on the precipice of an even greater catastrophe if urgent measures are not taken.