Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan's RSF fighters, BBC investigation finds

A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces systematically destroyed hospitals in the western city of el-Fasher -- findings the UN human rights chief says may amount to war crimes.

Drawing on sources who were on the ground in el-Fasher, the BBC documented at least 43 separate attacks on health facilities. UN human rights chief Volker Turk called the findings "deeply disturbing," saying the RSF's repeated strikes on the city's main hospitals and medical workers may amount to war crimes under international law, which forbids attacking health facilities or their staff during conflict.

The RSF rejected the findings. The paramilitary group's health minister described the allegations as propaganda and a deliberate attack on the force.

The investigation comes a year after the fall of el-Fasher, one of the most brutal chapters of Sudan's civil war. Doctors told the BBC they believed RSF fighters deliberately targeted medical facilities, with some sites struck repeatedly -- on some days up to 25 times.

The onslaught culminated on 25 October 2025 with the RSF storming the city's last functioning hospital amid allegations that more than 460 patients and their companions were massacred. The RSF denied a massacre occurred, although the World Health Organization condemned the reported killings.

Both sides in Sudan's conflict have been accused of attacking health facilities, but the BBC's investigation presents el-Fasher as one of the clearest and most severe examples of the war's impact on healthcare.