An attack on Al Deain Teaching Hospital in Sudan’s Darfur region on Friday night has killed at least 64 people, including 13 children, according to the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He announced this in a social media post on Saturday, detailing that multiple patients, two female nurses, and one male doctor were among the fatalities.

Another 89 individuals, including eight health staff members, were wounded in the assault. The attack severely damaged the hospital’s paediatric, maternity, and emergency departments, rendering the facility non-functional and cutting off essential medical services in the city of Al Deain, the capital of East Darfur state.

Tedros stated that this tragedy has pushed the total number of fatalities linked to attacks on healthcare facilities during Sudan’s war to over 2,000. He added that over the nearly three-year conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the WHO has confirmed 2,036 deaths in 213 attacks on healthcare.

There was no immediate information on who was responsible for the attack. The war between the army and the RSF erupted in mid-April 2023, unleashing violence that has created one of the world’s fastest-growing man-made humanitarian crises, with tens of thousands killed and more than 12 million people displaced from their homes.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, while the RSF has been implicated in atrocities in Darfur that United Nations experts say bear the hallmarks of genocide. Tedros emphasized, “Enough blood has been spilled. Enough suffering has been inflicted. The time has come to de-escalate the conflict in Sudan and ensure the protection of civilians, health workers, and humanitarians.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com