Hospital after Eid strike: the night El-Daein’s last refuge went silent

The hospital in el-Daein was meant to be a place where Eid fears softened into relief—a corridor where families waited for news, nurses moved between beds, and the city’s injuries were patched up one by one. On Friday night (ET), that refuge was struck, and by Saturday the head of the World Health Organization said 64 people were dead and 89 wounded, leaving El-Daein Teaching Hospital unable to function.

What happened at El-Daein Teaching Hospital, and what do we know for certain?

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the strike killed 64 people, including 13 children, two nurses, and a doctor, with 89 others wounded. He wrote that El-Daein Teaching Hospital was no longer able to function after the attack.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group holding the city, said an army drone hit the facility on the day Muslims marked Eid. The RSF said the top floor was completely destroyed, with extensive damage to the accident and emergency department and the destruction of vital medical equipment. The RSF also said the paediatric, maternity, and emergency departments were damaged, cutting off essential medical services in the city.

Sudan’s military denied carrying out the strike and said it was surprised by the accusation, adding that it abided by “international norms and laws. ” The WHO, through its Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA), verifies attacks but does not attribute blame, stating it is not an investigative agency. The SSA described Friday night’s strike as involving “violence with heavy weapons, ” affecting the hospital, staff, patients, and also supplies and storage.

Why does a single hospital strike reshape life across a whole city?

El-Daein Teaching Hospital was described by the Emergency Lawyers group as a vital health facility relied upon by thousands of civilians in the city and surrounding villages. When such a facility becomes non-functional, the damage is not only counted in the dead and wounded of one night. It extends into the next morning’s complications, the interrupted treatment, and the sudden absence of a place equipped to manage births, childhood illness, and emergency trauma.

The wider war has already turned medical care into a scarce commodity. Dr. Tedros condemned the frequent targeting of medical facilities, writing that over the nearly three-year conflict the WHO has confirmed 2, 036 people killed in 213 attacks on health care, including Friday night’s strike. He urged warring parties to end the conflict, saying: “Enough blood has been spilled. ”

Those numbers give shape to what families in el-Daein face in practical terms: treatment delayed, equipment destroyed, staff harmed, and a city’s essential services cut off just as need surges.

How does the WHO track attacks on health care, and what do its figures show?

The WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) counts and verifies attacks on health care. The SSA does not assign responsibility for attacks, as it is not an investigative agency.

Its figures point to a worsening trajectory. The SSA data cited by the WHO show that attacks on health care in Sudan are growing deadlier by the year: in 2023, 64 attacks caused 38 deaths; in 2024, 72 attacks led to 200 deaths; in 2025, 65 attacks caused 1, 620 deaths—82 percent of reported deaths from attacks on health care worldwide.

In this context, the loss of a single hospital carries the weight of a pattern: repeated strikes, mounting casualties, and shrinking space for civilians to find care that should be protected even in war.

What are the warring parties saying, and what are rights groups demanding?

The RSF said an army drone hit El-Daein Teaching Hospital. The Sudanese military denied it carried out the attack and said it adhered to international norms and laws.

The Emergency Lawyers group called for an independent and transparent investigation and for those responsible to be brought to justice. The rights organization has documented atrocities by both the army and the RSF throughout the war, and it highlighted the hospital’s importance to civilians far beyond the city limits.

There is also a geographic pressure shaping the danger. East Darfur borders the Kordofan region, described as a new front line where near-daily drone strikes occur. The area is a major corridor linking western Darfur—controlled by the RSF—to Khartoum, which was retaken by the army last year.

What comes next for civilians when health care becomes a battlefield?

Sudan has been in civil war since April 2023, after a struggle for power broke out between the military and the RSF, who had once been allies after coming to power in a 2021 coup. More than 150, 000 people have died in the conflict and about 12 million have fled their homes—nearly a third of the population—in what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

In that scale of upheaval, the destruction of El-Daein Teaching Hospital is both intimate and national: a local loss that mirrors a country where tens of thousands have been killed, more than 12 million forced from their homes, and more than 33 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

US-led peace efforts have not brought an end to the fighting. Meanwhile, Dr. Tedros urged de-escalation and protection for civilians, health workers, and humanitarians, adding: “Health care should never be a target. Peace is the best medicine. ”

Back in el-Daein, Eid celebrations were muted across the country this year, and the hospital that should have carried the city through the holiday now stands as a measure of what the war is taking: not only lives, but the places meant to save them.

Image caption (alt text): hospital after the El-Daein Teaching Hospital strike in East Darfur, as WHO reports 64 dead and the facility rendered non-functional.