Drone Attack in Sudan
By Brionna Gillis
Sudan drone attacks key hospital killing 64 people, leaving thousands of people without vital medical care.
Last Friday night, a deadly drone attack in the city west of Sudan on one its major hospitals, el-Daein Teaching Hospital, killed 64 people including 13 children, two nurses and a doctor, and wounded 89 others. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said an army drone hit the hospital in el-Daein, the capital of East Darfur state, on the day Muslims were marking the festival of Eid.
The aftermath of a drone strike on Ed Daein Hospital on March 20, 2026, Courtesy of Sudan Tribune
“Enough blood has been spilled,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on twitter, urging the warring parties to end the conflict that started three years ago, per BBC.
In a statement, the RSF said the strike had completely destroyed the hospital’s top floor, caused extensive damage to the accident and emergency department and destroyed vital medical equipment. The Sudan army has denied that it carried out the deadly attack. The military said that it was surprised by the accusations, adding it abided by “international norms and laws.”
“This drone attack is extremely disheartening, especially because there were a lot of civilians that passed away or are critically injured and due to the lack of resources they are unable to be treated properly,” said Reese Carter, a third-year political science major on the prelaw track.
Sudan was plunged into a civil war in April 2023, when a vicious power struggle between the military and RSP broke out. More than 150,000 people have died since the conflict and about 12 million have fled their homes, in what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, per the BBC.
The Emergency Lawyers group has called for an independent and transparent investigation for those responsible to be brought to justice. The local right organisation, which has documented atrocities by both the army and the RSF throughout the war, said the hospital i el-Daein was a vital health facility and relied upon by thousands of civilians in the city and surrounding villages.
“I think this situation will only contribute to Sudan’s further decline. The country’s already dealing with server instability and attacks like this make the humanitarian crisis even worse by dismantling critical systems like healthcare,” said Genesis Turner, a fourth-year political science major with a minor in strategic communications. “However, I think it serves a wake up call that there needs to be more done to protect vulnerable populations.”
