BBC finds Sudan's RSF systematically destroyed el-Fasher hospitals
The investigation documents at least 43 attacks on health sites and says 55 medical workers were killed, as the UN rights chief calls the findings "deeply disturbing".
At a glance
- BBC investigation documents at least 43 attacks on hospitals and health sites in el-Fasher from May 2024 to October 2025.
- UN rights chief Volker Türk called the findings "deeply disturbing" and said they may amount to war crimes.
- The RSF health minister dismissed the allegations as propaganda and denied doctors were forcibly abducted.
A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) systematically destroyed the healthcare system in el-Fasher during their siege and capture of the Darfuri city a year ago, in at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and medical sites.
The BBC's timeline covers attacks from May 2024 to October 2025, when the RSF took the city. Under international law, attacking health facilities or their staff during conflict is illegal. From April 2023 to October 2025, the investigation's data shows 120 medical workers were injured, 55 killed and 10 forcibly "disappeared" or abducted.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings "deeply disturbing", saying repeated RSF attacks on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.
Dr Alaa Eldin Nugud, a surgeon who has joined the RSF-backed civilian government as health minister, described the allegations as propaganda and a deliberate attempt by the national army and its allies to smear the RSF. He said South Hospital had been used as a military base, sharing video of weapon remains filmed more than a year after it closed and what he called maps of landmines around the Teaching Hospital. The BBC said it found no independent evidence for his claims, and the Darfur regional government rejected them. Under international law, hospitals can lose protection if a party to the conflict uses them to commit an act harmful to the enemy.
How the hospitals fell
The Teaching Hospital, one of the city's main facilities, closed within weeks of the war's start in April 2023 and services moved to South Hospital. In late May and early June 2024 the RSF shelled South Hospital several times as its fighters advanced from the east of the city.
Dr Muhamed Suliman, a surgeon based in el-Fasher during the siege, said the RSF was trying to put the hospitals out of service because a health system is the cornerstone of any city. "It was intense. It was deliberate. It was planned," he said.
On 8 June 2024, an RSF raid overran the hospital. Staff escaped over the back wall, according to pharmaceutical specialist Dr Mustafa Ahmed. Hospital director Izzeldin Ahmed Dawaud Asow said the fighters, not realising he was a doctor, denounced him with ethnic slurs, beat him with rifle butts and left him for dead after he pretended to stop breathing.
After South Hospital shut, staff and remaining equipment moved to the Saudi Maternity Hospital in the west of the city. Six doctors told the BBC it was repeatedly struck, on some days up to 25 times, with shelling and precision drone attacks. Smaller private hospitals and neighbourhood clinics closed steadily, and some facilities were attacked again after relocating. By the time the RSF seized el-Fasher in October 2025, the Saudi Hospital was the only functioning health facility left.
Denials and the aftermath
The RSF denies that a massacre took place when it stormed the hospital on 25 October 2025, when more than 460 patients and their companions were reported killed. The World Health Organization condemned the reported killings. Dr Nugud dismissed doctors' accounts as "a continuation of lies" and denied forced abductions, saying medical staff had chosen to stay. One doctor shown in an RSF video, Al-Haj Mohamed Ahmed, told the BBC he was forced to remain: "If I spoke out of line, they'd put a bullet through my head."
One year on, healthcare in el-Fasher is run by the RSF-backed government, which says the Saudi and Teaching hospitals have reopened. Attacks on health care continue as part of a wider humanitarian crisis, with front lines shifted elsewhere and no sign of a resolution to the war between the RSF and Sudan's military.
Source: BBC World.
Questions and answers
- What did the BBC investigation find in el-Fasher?
- The BBC found evidence that RSF fighters systematically destroyed el-Fasher's healthcare system, documenting at least 43 attacks on hospitals and health sites between May 2024 and October 2025, some hit more than once.
- What has the RSF said about the claims?
- RSF-backed health minister Dr Alaa Eldin Nugud called the allegations propaganda, said South Hospital was used as a military base and denied doctors were forcibly abducted. The BBC found no independent evidence for his claims.
- How many medical workers were killed or injured?
- According to the BBC's data, from April 2023 to October 2025, 120 medical workers were injured, 55 were killed and 10 were forcibly disappeared or abducted.
