Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces seized el-Fasher in North Darfur and, according to the U.N., residents and aid workers, killed hundreds, including 460 patients and companions at the Saudi Maternity Hospital. Witnesses described house‑to‑house shootings, torture and sexual assaults, with exhausted, dehydrated survivors fleeing to Tawila as some 35,000 people escaped the city. A Yale analysis of satellite imagery corroborated mass executions near hospitals and other sites, which researchers said amount to war crimes. RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo acknowledged “abuses” and an investigation. Global condemnation mounted as communication blackouts obscured the full toll.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.