KHARTOUM: Shelling by Sudanese paramilitaries of the besieged Darfur city of El-Fasher killed 13 civilians on Thursday and Friday, including four children, a medical source said.
The two-day bombardment hit residential areas in the Al-Nasr neighborhood and the city’s central market, the source at El-Fasher hospital said.
“A number of shells struck civilian homes,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity for their own safety.
In recent weeks, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, have stepped up their efforts to take El-Fasher, the last major city in Darfur not under their control.
The current offensive is the RSF’s most intense since the siege began and comes after the army recaptured the capital Khartoum earlier this year.
In a statement on Friday, the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of grassroots groups documenting atrocities in the war, described scenes of “terror” as RSF fighters stormed western districts of the city on Thursday morning.
The paramilitaries carried off an unknown number of residents to undisclosed locations, the group added.
Satellite imagery released on Thursday by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab documented the scale of the RSF bombardment of the city’s adjacent Abu Shouk displaced persons’ camp.
The images showed more than 50 visible munition impacts or destroyed structures inside the camp between August 30 and September 10, including 22 strikes on the camp’s main market.
The UN fact-finding mission for Sudan reported this week that more than 300 civilians have been killed in Abu Shouk alone since the RSF siege began.
It accused the RSF of committing “myriad crimes against humanity” during its campaign in El-Fasher, but said both sides have shelled civilian areas.
With humanitarian aid cut off, the only escape from the city is a perilous 70 kilometer (45 mile) trek to the town of Tawila, which is held by ethnic minority rebels who have largely stayed out of the fighting.
French medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said more than 650 injured people had reached its hospital in Tawila since mid-August.
Many survivors made the journey “on foot, bleeding from gunshot wounds and severe whippings,” said MSF’s project coordinator in Tawila, Sylvain Penicaud.
The conflict in Sudan has killed tens of thousands of people and driven more than 14 million from their homes.
The vast western region of Darfur has been a major battleground as it was in a previous conflict in the 2000s.
The UN Security Council on Friday extended its embargo on arms shipments to Darfur by a year, prolonging a measure in place since 2005 that has seen frequent reported violations.
RSF shelling kills 13 in besieged city in Sudan’s Darfur: medic
https://arab.news/ndhca
RSF shelling kills 13 in besieged city in Sudan’s Darfur: medic
- The two-day bombardment hit residential areas in the Al-Nasr neighborhood and the city’s central market, the source at El-Fasher hospital said
- The current offensive is the RSF’s most intense since the siege began and comes after the army recaptured the capital Khartoum earlier this year
Gaza’s ceasefire had some momentum. Now, some fear a new war will distract the world
- Residents say they are scared of neglect and deprivation, with Israel in the wake of the weekend strikes closing all crossings into their shattered territory of over 2 million people
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Some Palestinians say they fear the widening war sparked by US and Israeli attacks against Iran could overshadow the fragile situation in Gaza, just over a week after US President Donald Trump rallied billions of dollars in pledges for the territory’s reconstruction and tried to nudge a ceasefire forward.
Residents say they are scared of neglect and deprivation, with Israel in the wake of the weekend strikes closing all crossings into their shattered territory of over 2 million people.
Palestinians told The Associated Press they were rushing to markets, haunted by memories of painful food scarcity last year under months of Israel’s blockade. Part of Gaza, around Gaza City, was found to be in famine.
“When the crossings shut down, everything was suspended from the market,” said Osamda Hanoda from Khan Younis. “The prices go up, and people live in misery.”
Reports show prices of goods rising sharply
The shaky Israel-Hamas ceasefire had led to more humanitarian aid and other supplies entering Gaza, even as the United Nations and aid partners say more of everything from basic medical supplies to fuel is needed.
Now, Palestinians are hoarding again, with reports of prices rising sharply for basic goods such as bags of flour.
“We are afraid of not finding milk” and diapers for the kids, or food and water, said Hassan Zanoun, who was displaced from Rafah.
COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, did not respond to a request for comment Sunday. In its announcement of the closings, it asserted that the food supply inside the territory “is expected to suffice for an extended period.” It added that the rotation of humanitarian workers in and out of Gaza is postponed.
It was not clear when any crossing might reopen. Israeli authorities focused on Iran, and citizens dashed repeatedly for shelter as sirens wailed.
Ramadan is disrupted
The war in Gaza began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and it’s been marked from the start by restrictions on people and supplies being allowed into the territory — and terrified people, including medical evacuees in need of treatment, getting out.
A month ago, Gaza’s main Rafah border crossing with the outside world — its only crossing not with Israel — reopened, allowing a small and tightly controlled flow of Palestinian traffic in both directions. No cargo was allowed through.
Now all crossings are closed again in the middle of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a time of chosen deprivation, evening feasts and prayer. Images have shown Palestinians lined up at long tables in the middle of bombed-out debris.
The strikes on Iran shook that routine.
“All the people rushed to markets, and they all wanted to shop and hide,” said Abeer Awwad, who was displaced from Gaza City, as word of the explosions in Tehran began to spread.
Under the Oct. 10 US-brokered ceasefire, the heaviest fighting has subsided, though regular Israeli fire continues in Gaza. The UN World Food Program has noted progress in the enclave but said in its latest food security analysis last week that hunger remains.
“Households reported an average of two meals per day in February 2026, compared to one meal in July,” it said. “Still, one in five households consumed only one meal daily.”
A challenge for aid groups and others
Refocusing the world’s attention on Gaza is a challenge for aid groups and others as Iran scrambles for new leadership and explosions continue in Tehran, Israel and around the Middle East.
Trump has said bombing in Iran could continue through the week or longer, and warned Tehran of “A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” if it escalates attacks.
It’s a dramatic turn from Trump’s launch less than two weeks ago of his new Board of Peace, a gathering of world leaders that is aimed at ending the war in Gaza but has ambitions of resolving conflicts elsewhere.
Even with that bump in momentum on Gaza, major challenges remain for the ceasefire. They include disarming Hamas, assembling and deploying an international stabilization force, and getting a newly appointed Palestinian committee meant to govern Gaza into the territory.
As the Middle East turns to another war, some Palestinians see a benefit: Israel’s military is distracted.
“The good thing is that the sound of booms and demolitions is rare now near the yellow line,” said Ahmed Abu Jahl, of Gaza City, speaking about the line dividing Gaza and marking out roughly half the territory controlled by Israeli forces.
“Even the drones, they are still flying overhead, but their number has gone down.”
