RSF attacks main hospital in North Darfur’s Al-Fasher, says health official

People gather near a destroyed vehicle in Omdurman, Sudan. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 13 December 2024
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RSF attacks main hospital in North Darfur’s Al-Fasher, says health official

CAIRO: The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked the main still-functioning hospital in Al-Fasher, in Sudan’s North Darfur state, on Friday, killing nine people and injuring 20, according to a local health official and activists.

A drone fired four missiles at the hospital, destroying wards, waiting areas, and other facilities, said state health minister Ibrahim Khatir and the Al-Fasher resistance committee, a pro-democracy group that monitors violence in the area.

Images they shared showed debris scattered over hospital beds and damaged ceilings and walls. 

The RSF says it does not target civilians and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sudan’s army and the RSF have been locked in conflict for more than 18 months, triggering a profound humanitarian crisis in which more than 12 million people have been driven from their homes, and UN agencies have struggled to deliver relief.

Al-Fasher is one of the most active frontlines between the RSF, the Sudanese army, and its allies, fighting to maintain a last foothold in the Darfur region. 

Observers fear that an RSF victory there could bring ethnic retribution, as happened in West Darfur last year.


Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

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Brother of Israel’s Shin Bet chief indicted in Gaza smuggling case

JERUSALEM: Prosecutors on Thursday filed charges against the brother of the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency over the alleged smuggling of cigarettes into the besieged Gaza Strip.
Bezalel Zini, the brother of Shin Bet chief David Zini, is charged along with other defendants in the case with “assisting the enemy in wartime, performing transactions in property for terrorist purposes, obtaining something by fraud under aggravated circumstances, and taking bribes,” the justice ministry said.
“A central category of prohibited goods smuggled into the Strip was tobacco and cigarettes, which have put a total of hundreds of millions of shekels into Hamas’s coffers since the start of the war,” the ministry added in a statement.
Israel controls the entry of all goods and people into the Palestinian territory, where humanitarian conditions remain dire despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas which came into effect on October 10.
The justice ministry described the smuggling operation as a “serious case of organized, systematic, and sophisticated smuggling of various goods into the Gaza Strip for profit,” which began in the summer of 2025, when war was still raging in Gaza.