The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, on Wednesday expressed shock at reports that as many as hundreds of civilians were killed and many others injured in air strikes by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) on a crowded market in Tora village, Sudan's North Darfur State, on Monday. There are conflicting reports on the number of casualties, ranging from several dozen to hundreds.
According to humanitarian sources, there are also disturbing reports that some of the injured are dying due to lack of access to timely medical care in El Fasher, where the ongoing siege and hostilities have forced most health facilities to close.
“Despite my repeated warnings and appeals to both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to protect civilians in line with international humanitarian law, civilians continue to be killed indiscriminately, maimed and mistreated on a near daily basis, while civilian objects remain an all-too-frequent target,” Türk said.
He again urged both warring parties to take all measures required by law to avoid harming civilians and targeting civilian objects.
“Indiscriminate attacks and attacks against civilians, and civilian objects, are unacceptable and may constitute war crimes,” the High Commissioner said.
“There must be full accountability for violations committed in this latest attack, and the many other attacks against civilians that have preceded it. Such conduct must never become normalized.”
Also on Wednesday, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, said Monday's horrific attack on Tora market in North Darfur was another stark reminder of the growing disregard for human life and international humanitarian law during the conflict.
“It follows a recent attack in Al Malha locality, North Darfur, where the situation has deteriorated rapidly. Reports indicate large numbers of civilians killed and mass displacement,” she said in a statement.
“The surge in violence has also intensified looting and widespread destruction, further compounding the suffering of civilians.”
Nkweta-Salami unequivocally condemned all deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
“Markets, hospitals, schools, mosques and private homes are not battlegrounds. Yet civilians are being killed in the very places where they should be safest,” she stressed.
In North Darfur State, there has been heavy fighting between the Rapid Support Forces and a coalition of armed groups allied to the Sudanese army. The RSF, who have been besieging and shelling the state capital of El Fasher for nearly a year, have stepped up their offensive in recent weeks. The village of Tora is located about 40 kilometers northwest of El Fasher.
RSF fighters have also launched attacks on Zamzam camp, Sudan's largest camp for internally displaced people (IDPs), where famine is raging. Famine has been declared in at least five locations in Sudan, including Zamzam and other displacement camps in the western region of Darfur and the western Nuba Mountains.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), more than 70 children were killed or maimed by violence in El Fasher in less than three months. Since the beginning of 2025, intense shelling and airstrikes in the Zamzam camp have resulted in 16 percent of all verified child casualties in El Fasher.
“An estimated 825,000 children are trapped in a growing catastrophe in and around Al Fasher,” said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative for Sudan, in a statement on Wednesday,
“With these numbers reflecting only verified incidents, it is likely the true toll is far higher, with children in a daily struggle to survive. Death is a constant threat for children, whether due to the fighting around them or the collapse of the vital services they rely on to survive.”
According to UNICEF, there are more than 457,000 acutely malnourished children in North Darfur, including nearly 146,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) - the deadliest form.
More than 60,000 people were newly displaced in North Darfur in just six weeks, adding to the more than 600,000 people displaced between April 2024, when violence escalated, and January 2025 - including 300,000 children. An estimated 900,000 people remain trapped by active conflict in El Fasher and 750,000 in Zamzam camp, half of them children.
On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a brutal war that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The United Nations estimates that 30 million people - two-thirds of Sudan's population - are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict.
Sudan continues to face a catastrophic humanitarian situation, with approximately 24.6 million people - almost half of the Sudanese population - facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse). The rapid deterioration of food security in Sudan has left 638,000 people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), while 8.1 million people are estimated to be in emergency hunger (IPC Phase 4).
Sudan is also the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 16 million people currently uprooted by conflict in Sudan. The vast majority of the displaced - some 13 million women, children and men - have been driven from their homes by the ongoing war.
As of March, 11.6 million people remain internally displaced in Sudan, including some 2.8 million who were displaced before April 2023. At least 500,000 Sudanese had fled to neighboring countries before the outbreak of the current conflict. The total number of Sudanese refugees is now estimated at more than 4.5 million.
Over the course of more than 23 months, more than 8.8 million people - including refugees already living in the country - have been internally displaced, and more than 4 million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
On Thursday, however, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that the number of internally displaced persons in Sudan has decreased slightly over the past three months, marking the first decline since the outbreak of war nearly two years ago.
The IOM said the decrease was mainly due to people returning to their places of origin. However, those who are returning are coming back to areas that have been severely damaged and lack adequate shelter, food, infrastructure, education and other basic services.
Since December 2024, some 400,000 people have returned to their places of origin in Al Jazirah, Sennar and Khartoum states. IOM said the movement reflected a cautious, but hopeful shift as communities sought to reclaim their homes and resume their lives after months of intense conflict.
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today that it was closely monitoring the situation in the capital, Khartoum, amid recent shifts in control of the city.
On Wednesday, the Sudanese army reportedly recaptured the capital, which had been largely under RSF control since fighting broke out in April 2023. OCHA continues to receive alarming reports of reprisals by armed groups against civilians.
At the same time, the UN and its humanitarian partners are seizing every opportunity to reach people in need with life-saving assistance.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that 1,200 metric tons of food and nutrition assistance were distributed to some 100,000 people in the towns of Bahri and Omdurman in Khartoum State, the first WFP aid trucks to reach these areas inside Khartoum since the latest round of hostilities began.