The Saudi hospital “is the last operating medical center in the city, caring for thousands of people affected by the war”the agency said in a tweet.
Healthcare under attack
OCHA “strongly condemned” the attacks and others recently carried out by the RSF in El Fasher, the last stronghold under the control of the Khartoum government in the region, where famine was declared last year.
“Civilians should never be attacked,” OCHA stated. “Once again we echo the UN Secretary-General’s call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.”
The U.N. reproductive health agency, UNFPA, said Tuesday’s attack targeted the maternity ward, killing 12 people and wounding many others, including patients and health workers.
“This is the third attack on the hospital in a week.” UNFPA said, calling for “an immediate end to hostilities, the protection of civilians and health facilities, and safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver life-saving aid to those who desperately need it.”
The people of El Fasher “are trapped, terrified and without access to help, and their last lifeline for medical care is threatened”said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric at the daily press conference from New York.
“And it goes without saying that attacks on hospitals should be condemned and never acceptable.”
City under siege
El Fasher has been under siege for more than a year.
In recent months, the RSF (former Janjaweed militias responsible for atrocities against non-Arab communities in Darfur in the early 2000s) have intensified artillery bombardments and drone strikes in their efforts to capture the city.
Beyond Darfur, Sudan remains mired in a civil war that has been raging since April 2023. It has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, with more than 30 million people in need of assistance.
Around 12 million people have been displaced, including more than four million who have fled to neighboring countries such as Chad, the Central African Republic and beyond.
Conflicts, confrontations and displacements
The clashes are now aggravated by communal clashes. On October 7 and 8, field teams from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) registered around 250 displaced people from the town of Kernoi, near the border with Chad, following an intra-community conflict between members of the Zaghawa tribe, one of the four main non-Arab communities in the region.
Civilians continue to flee El Fasher and the nearby Zamzam camp, where the population has plummeted by 70 percent in the past six months.
Humanitarian agencies estimate that the number of people residing in the area has fallen from 700,000 in March to 200,000 in September.
Thousands of families have fled to nearby cities such as Tawila, which is now home to some 600,000 displaced people.
While the UN and its partners remain committed to supporting the people of El Fasher and all of Sudan as a whole, Dujarric emphasized the need for safe humanitarian access, increased protection of civilians and an immediate humanitarian pause in the city and its surroundings.