The alleged massacre of more than 460 people at the Saudi Maternity Hospital was condemned by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the secretary-general of the World Health Organization, in a statement Wednesday.
"All attacks on health care must stop immediately and unconditionally," Ghebreyesus said. "All patients, health personnel and health facilities must be protected under International Humanitarian Law. Ceasefire!"
Ghebreyesus said that, before the latest attack, the WHO had verified 185 attacks on health care in Sudan, causing at least 1,204 deaths and 416 injuries of health workers and patients since the civil war began in April 2023.
The Sudan Doctors Network, an organization that aims to improve health care in the African nation, called the attack a "heinous crime" and said it violated humanitarian law.
"They cold-bloodedly killed everyone they found inside the Saudi Hospital, including patients, their companions, and anyone else present in the wards," the organization said.
"Hospitals in El Fasher have been transformed into human slaughterhouses at the hands of the RSF, who make no distinction between combatant and patient, or between child and doctor."
The Sudan Doctors Network said that the massacre at the hospital "is not an isolated incident" and amounted to "systemic genocide" in Darfur. It called on the United Nations Security Council and other human rights groups to take action.
The Yale Humanitarian Lab has analyzed satellite photos of the hospital taken Monday and Tuesday and issued a report supporting that a mass killing occurred. In the images, the Yale researchers found groupings of white objects with reddish discoloration on the ground.
In the images, the white objects have been measured to be the sizes of human bodies and lying in shapes that would indicate bending at the waist or knees.
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