Children Killed in Army Massacre at El Daein Hospital
Rhino: Agencies
The Forum of International Organizations Working in Sudan expressed its shock at the bombing that targeted the Al-Da’ein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur state, carried out by the Sudanese army last Friday, which killed at least 64 people, including 13 children, two nurses, and a doctor, in addition to a number of patients, and injured about 90 others.
The attack rendered the hospital completely inoperable after destroying vital departments, including the emergency room, the pediatric ward, surgical services, and the stabilization center that treated children suffering from severe malnutrition and its complications.
This hospital is the only government medical facility still operating in Al-Dhayn, meaning its destruction will deprive hundreds of thousands of civilians of life-saving services.
The forum, which includes some 60 international humanitarian organizations operating in the country, including Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, and the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement that “The bombing of the hospital comes at a time when Sudan’s health system is under exceptional strain, as nearly three years of war have led to the shutdown of up to 80% of health facilities in conflict-affected states, while others suffer from severe shortages of medical staff, medicines, and essential supplies.”
The Forum added that the bombing of health facilities coincides with a rapid decline in international humanitarian funding, threatening to shut down hundreds of health facilities in Sudan, with 344 facilities in 13 states expected to cease operations, affecting approximately 876,000 people per month. In East Darfur state, this could lead to the suspension of mobile clinics and primary care services on which communities depend.
The Forum warned that the destruction of a key facility such as Al-Dhain Teaching Hospital, coupled with the decline in humanitarian health programs, portends a near-total collapse in access to health services in the region.
The Forum called on the international community to “strongly condemn this attack and all violations of international humanitarian law.”
In this context, Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed his shock at the bombing of the hospital, stating that the attack comes amid a dangerous escalation of attacks on civilians, and warning against the use of weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) condemned the attack on the hospital, stating that it resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries among civilians and medical staff, and emphasizing that “targeting medical facilities constitutes a grave violation of international law, and that hospitals must remain outside the scope of military operations.”
The Forum of International Humanitarian Organizations in Sudan described the bombing of Al-Da’ein Hospital as “a new grave violation of international humanitarian law, in the context of a worrying escalation of drone attacks in recent weeks and months, as international rules affirm that health facilities and their staff must not be targeted under any circumstances.”
The Sudanese army’s bombing of the Al-Da’ein Hospital in East Darfur raised serious legal questions regarding whether it constituted a war crime, in light of the rules of international humanitarian law.
Regional and international human rights figures and organizations have stated that, under the Geneva Conventions, hospitals and medical facilities are considered specially protected targets; targeting them, disrupting their operations, or endangering their staff is prohibited, and a deliberate attack on them is classified as a grave violation of international law.
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, an attack constitutes a war crime if it occurs in the context of an armed conflict, targets a protected civilian facility, is carried out intentionally or indiscriminately with knowledge of the presence of civilians, and lacks a legitimate military justification or violates the principle of proportionality.
Hussein Al-Sioufi, an expert in international humanitarian law, told Sky News Arabia: “Given the available information regarding the Al-Dua’in Hospital—as a civilian site providing healthcare services and life-saving medications, coupled with the deaths of dozens of people, including children, and its being put out of service—it strongly suggests that this constitutes a war crime.”
