At least 134 people have died in a single hospital in El-Fasher, a city in western Sudan’s Darfur region, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Sunday. Among the dead is an MSF team member.
The conflict in Sudan, ongoing for more than a year, pits the regular military under army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains the only state capital in the region not under RSF control and serves as a key humanitarian hub for an area nearing famine.
While El-Fasher has experienced intermittent clashes since the war began, intense fighting resumed on May 10. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described this as “an alarming new chapter” in the conflict.
MSF reported that one of its pharmacy watchmen was killed on Saturday when shelling struck his house. He was taken to Southern Hospital, the sole operational hospital in North Darfur, where he later died.
Southern Hospital, supported by an MSF team, has treated 979 casualties in just over two weeks.
The death toll there has reached 134, highlighting the severe violence of the recent clashes, according to an MSF statement.
However, the actual toll is likely higher, as many residents are unable to seek medical care due to the ongoing fighting. Shelling and gunfire are widespread across El-Fasher, with the army, which controls the skies, also conducting air strikes.
The UN has warned that supplies at Southern Hospital will last for only about a week. Aid organizations have urgently requested safe access to the city to replenish stocks and support overworked medical teams.
However, key roads remain blocked, posing significant barriers to movement and safety.
Humanitarian workers across Sudan have been repeatedly targeted, harassed, and killed by both sides. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported that a Sudanese Red Crescent volunteer was killed by gunfire while on duty in North Kordofan on Friday.
Since the conflict began in April last year, tens of thousands of people have been killed, including up to 15,000 in a single West Darfur town, according to UN experts. Nearly nine million people have been displaced from their homes. As of the end of April, North Darfur alone hosted more than half a million people displaced over the past year, based on the latest UN figures.
