Türkiye on Sunday strongly condemned an attack by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a Saudi hospital in Sudan, emphasizing that civilian infrastructure must never be targeted and international law must be upheld.
In a statement posted on X, the Turkish Foreign Ministry extended condolences to the victims’ families and the people of Sudan, reaffirming Ankara’s support for peace and stability in the war-torn nation.
“We remain committed to supporting steps that will enable the establishment of peace and stability in Sudan,” the ministry said.
The attack on the Saudi Teaching Maternal Hospital in the besieged city of al-Fasher killed about 70 people and injured 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday. The hospital was filled with patients when it came under fire, marking one of several recent assaults as Sudan’s civil war escalates.
Ghebreyesus posted the death toll in the hospital attack in al-Fasher on X. Officials and others in the capital of North Darfur province cited a similar figure Saturday. Tedros is the first international source to provide a casualty number. Reporting on Sudan is incredibly difficult, given communication challenges.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned the attack as a “violation of international and humanitarian law,” stressing the kingdom’s rejection of such acts.
The attack came as the RSF was experiencing apparent battlefield losses to the Sudanese military.
Another health facility in al-Malha was also attacked Saturday, the WHO chief added.
“We continue to call for a cessation of all attacks on health care in Sudan and to allow full access for the swift restoration of the facilities that have been damaged,” Ghebreyesus said. “Above all, Sudan’s people need peace. The best medicine is peace.”
Sudan’s Foreign Ministry also accused the RSF of launching a drone attack targeting the hospital’s emergency ward, describing the assault as a “massacre.”
In a statement on Sunday night, the RSF alleged that the Sudanese military and its allies attacked the hospital in al-Fasher but offered no evidence to support the claim.
Al-Fasher is more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Khartoum. The city is now estimated to be home to more than 1 million people, many of whom have been displaced by the war.
The Saudi hospital, just north of al-Fasher’s airport, sits near the front lines of the war and has been repeatedly hit by shelling. Still, its doctors continue surgeries, sometimes by the light of cellphones while the hospital is hit.
The RSF and Sudan’s military began fighting each other in April 2023. Their conflict has reportedly killed more than 28,000 people, forced millions to flee their homes, and left some families eating grass in a desperate attempt to survive as famine sweeps parts of the country.
Other estimates suggest a far higher death toll in the civil war.
International organizations have warned of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, with millions facing famine and death due to food shortages amid fighting that has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.