The strikes that targeted El Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur State have offered a stark, close-up image of the toll borne by children and women in Sudan’s ongoing war, which erupted in April 2023 and is now approaching its fourth year.

The death toll from what was described as “the crime of a drone strike carried out by the Sudanese army on El Daein Teaching Hospital yesterday, Friday, has risen to more than 62 dead, including 12 children, with 113 others injured—most of them women and children.

A number of victims remain trapped beneath the rubble as search and rescue operations continue,” according to a statement by the Rapid Support Forces.

The statement said: “The cowardly attack was carried out on Friday evening using a drone of the ‘Akanji’ type, resulting not only in the killing of innocent civilians but also in the complete destruction of the upper floor, severe damage to the hospital’s emergency department infrastructure, the destruction of medical equipment, and other losses.”

It further considered that “this assault constitutes a fully-fledged war crime and represents a flagrant violation of the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the principles relating to the protection of civilians and civilian objects, and the prohibition on targeting medical facilities that enjoy special protection under the Geneva Conventions.”

The statement added: “This criminal attack has sparked widespread outrage within the local community, which has expressed strong condemnation of this brutal conduct and its categorical rejection of the terrorism of the Muslim Brotherhood group, in a blatant violation of all international laws and norms.”

A Flagrant Violation

The Darfur Regional Government affiliated with the Peace Government condemned in the strongest terms “the heinous crime committed on the evening of the first day of Eid al-Fitr, consisting of the shelling of El Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur State by a drone, in a direct and deliberate targeting of a civilian medical facility.”

It affirmed that “the bombardment struck several vital departments within the hospital, including the maternity and obstetrics ward, the pediatric department, and the emergency unit, causing widespread destruction and leaving dozens of civilian dead and wounded, most of them women and children, in a flagrant violation of all humanitarian values.”

The Darfur Regional Government stressed that “Targeting healthcare facilities constitutes a fully-fledged war crime under international humanitarian law, as the Geneva Conventions guarantee full protection for medical facilities, their staff, and patients, and categorically prohibit any attack against them. What has occurred represents a grave breach of these laws and international norms.”

The regional government held “the Sudanese army, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, an ally of the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group, fully responsible for this crime,” calling on the international community and the United Nations to take urgent and effective action to halt these violations, including the imposition of an immediate ban on military aviation over Darfur to protect innocent civilians.

Violence and Deprivation

The newspaper MadaMik reports that “children and women are the most affected groups in the conflict, with children subjected to violence, deprivation of education and healthcare, and recruitment into armed groups, while widespread sexual violence has been perpetrated against women.”

Estimates by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicate that millions of children in Sudan have been directly affected by the war, whether through displacement or the loss of essential services such as education and healthcare.

The organization warns that the continuation of the conflict and the deterioration of humanitarian conditions threaten the future of an entire generation of children, according to the newspaper.

Abdelkader Abu, Secretary-General of the National Council for Child Welfare, stated that the war has cast a heavy shadow over the education sector, with the council recording a significant rise in school dropout rates.

More than 85% of children have experienced prolonged interruptions to their education, while the total number of children suffering educational loss has reached approximately three million.

Abdelkader Abu further revealed figures documented by the council on the condition of children during the war, noting more than 1.013 million recorded child deaths due to malnutrition, in addition to around 1,000 deaths as a result of hunger, while the number of missing children has reached 700.