A strike on the lone functioning hospital in Sudan’s West Kordofan state killed more than 40 people Saturday, including at least six children and five medical staff, the World Health Organization said.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, called the attack on Al Mujlad Hospital “appalling” and urged all sides in Sudan’s civil war to stop targeting medical facilities. “Hospitals are not a target,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and two Sudanese civil-society groups accused General al-Burhan’s army (SAF) of firing on the hospital, claiming soldiers believed RSF fighters were inside.
Rights group Emergency Lawyers said a SAF drone hit the building but reported a slightly lower death toll.
The hospital, which housed a dialysis unit and served thousands of civilians, is now in ruins. Its destruction further strains a health system already crippled by the conflict that erupted in April 2023 between the RSF and the SAF, a war the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
UN agencies warn that millions of Sudanese face displacement, malnutrition and disease as fighting drags into a third year. Attacks on health facilities — protected under international law — have grown frequent, with each warring party accusing the other of war crimes against civilians and medical staff.
Global health officials say ending assaults on hospitals is critical to preventing an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe.
