While civilians are being targeted or indiscriminately attacked in several regions of Sudan, with hundreds reportedly killed, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warns that Sudan's humanitarian crisis continues to intensify as cholera spreads throughout the country, flooding displaces communities, and thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) return to areas with little to no support.
On Monday, OCHA noted that a Sudanese doctors' association in Tawila, North Darfur, reported over 1,300 confirmed cholera cases in just one week — a dramatic surge that underscores the urgent need to scale up the response.
Tawila is hosting several hundred thousand displaced people, most of whom fled deadly attacks on the famine-stricken Zamzam camp for displaced people near the town of El Fasher in mid-April. Aid agencies on the ground have been struggling to keep pace with the growing needs in the area.
OCHA warns that challenges will only increase as the rainy season begins. Cholera cases are also surging in nearby areas where a lack of safe water and sanitation in displacement sites and urban areas is fueling further disease outbreaks.
Local and international humanitarian organizations have set up cholera treatment centers, but current capacity is insufficient to cope with the rising caseload. Additional resources are needed immediately to curb the outbreak and save lives, including more treatment centers, mobile health facilities, ambulances, and waste management tools.
Cholera spreads to all but one of Sudan’s states
According to the Sudanese Federal Ministry of Health, as of the end of June, there have been over 83,000 confirmed cholera cases, 32,000 suspected cases, and 2,100 deaths reported in the country since the outbreak began in late July 2024.
By July 11, 2025, nearly a year after the outbreak started, the disease had infected over 87,000 people and caused 2,260 deaths. Although case numbers in Khartoum State have declined, the outbreak has spread to all but one of Sudan’s 18 states: Central Darfur State.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the spread to the states of North, South, West, and East Darfur, as well as North, South, and West Kordofan, is particularly concerning, given the limited access and already dire humanitarian and health crises in these states.
While disease outbreaks are worsening and spreading, fewer than 25 percent of health facilities in the states most affected by the war are operational, and only 45 percent of facilities in other states are fully functional.
Outrage over killings of civilians
On Friday, aid agencies operating in Sudan expressed deep alarm and outrage over reports of indiscriminate and targeted killings of civilians in Sudan’s Kordofan region following violent attacks that have escalated since July 10 and reportedly killed hundreds of civilians.
The Sudan INGO Forum, which coordinates and represents international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) active in Sudan, called on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) and the Geneva Conventions to protect civilians.
“There must be an independent investigation into these atrocities, and those responsible must be held accountable,” the NGO body said.
“The international community must act urgently to ensure humanitarian access to affected areas and support efforts to bring an end to the ongoing suffering.”
Between July 10 and 14, airstrikes in two villages in West Kordofan by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) killed at least 23 civilians and injured over 30 others. On July 17, an SAF airstrike in North Kordofan’s Bara locality killed at least 11 civilians.
Since July 10, the UN Human Rights Office has verified the killing of at least 60 civilians by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in North Kordofan’s Bara locality. Civil society groups have reported that up to 300 people were killed.
According to other sources, more than 450 civilians, including children and pregnant women, have been killed in horrific attacks in communities around Bara.
The targeting of civilians, including women and children, constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law and human rights norms and is a war crime. Indiscriminate attacks on noncombatants, such as civilians, are also severe violations of IHL, particularly the principles of distinction and precaution.
On Thursday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the killings in Sudan’s Kordofan region.
“It is distressing that more than two years since the conflict began parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to demonstrate callous disregard for civilians’ lives and safety,” Türk said.
The latest civilian deaths come amid reports that the RSF is preparing for an offensive on El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan state.
The UN human rights chief also expressed concern for the safety of civilians in El Fasher, North Darfur, following multiple RSF attacks on the besieged city in recent days that reportedly resulted in civilian casualties, including children.
Since the beginning of Sudan’s brutal conflict over two years ago, North Darfur State has been an epicenter of clashes. The state's humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate rapidly due to relentless conflict, flooding, and the collapse of essential services.
Food insecurity is also rising sharply. According to the latest data from the World Food Programme (WFP), the cost of the local food basket in North Darfur has risen by 15 percent in just one month and is now more than double what it was this time last year.
Since April, the conflict in North Darfur, particularly around the town of El Fasher and the Zamzam camp, has intensified. Entire neighborhoods have been besieged, hospitals have been bombed, and roads have been blocked. Aid convoys face looting and attacks.
The conflict has crippled people’s access to food, medicine, and healthcare; many health facilities have been damaged or destroyed. El Fasher Maternity Hospital, the only major hospital still operating in the area, is overwhelmed with patients while being critically short-staffed and severely under-resourced.
Hunger, starvation, and famine
The latest alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) emphasizes the devastating impact of Sudan’s ongoing conflict on the intensifying hunger crisis within the country. The IPC stated that intense fighting in Northern Darfur and Greater Kordofan continues to displace people and severely restrict humanitarian access, resulting in dire food security, health, and nutrition conditions.
With millions of Sudanese experiencing starvation for a third consecutive year of conflict, famine conditions persist in areas where famine was declared or projected by December 2024. Isolated communities in El Fasher and the Nuba Mountains still face extreme food shortages and very limited access to basic services and social support systems.
Based on the latest available evidence, the food security and nutrition situation in Sudan is expected to significantly deteriorate during the lean season, from July to September 2025.
Violence has deliberately impeded access to many famine-affected areas, including El Fasher, Kadugli, and surrounding areas. The alert also emphasizes that malnutrition rates have skyrocketed in communities that were not previously classified as areas of highest concern.
Due to the war, Sudan is facing the world's largest hunger crisis. Across the country, approximately 25 million people — nearly half the population — are experiencing acute hunger. Of those, at least 638,000 are facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC 5), and 8.1 million are classified as being in emergency levels (IPC 4).
Sudan is the only country in the world where famine has been confirmed in multiple areas and continues to spread. Ten locations have been declared famine zones: eight in North Darfur State and two in the Western Nuba Mountains. Seventeen other areas, including parts of Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Khartoum, and Al-Jazira, are at risk of famine.
According to recent data from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the number of children treated for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) across Sudan’s five Darfur states increased by 46 percent between January and May 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
In North Darfur alone, over 40,000 children were admitted for SAM treatment in the first five months of the year — twice the number from the equivalent period last year.
The situation is equally alarming in other parts of the country. SAM admissions surged by over 70 percent in North Kordofan State, by 174 percent in Khartoum State, and by a staggering 683 percent in Al Jazirah State.
Severe acute malnutrition, also known as severe wasting, is the deadliest form of malnutrition. Children with SAM require immediate, intensive treatment, as they are extremely vulnerable to life-threatening complications and have a high mortality rate if they receive inadequate or inappropriate care.
The world’s largest humanitarian crisis
Since April 15, 2023, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been engaged in a brutal war that has caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Over 30 million people currently require urgent assistance, making this the world's largest humanitarian emergency.
Children account for at least half of those in need of aid and half of the more than 12 million people displaced since April 2023. Approximately 24 million children in Sudan are at risk of violence, abuse, exploitation, and trauma, and those who are separated from their families or are unaccompanied face heightened risks.
Additionally, Sudan is grappling with the world's largest and most severe displacement crisis. Since the war began in 2023, more than 13 million people had been forced to flee their homes. Over 4 million of those displaced have crossed into neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 1.3 million displaced people have returned to their areas of origin in recent months, reducing the overall displacement figure to over 12 million since the start of the war.
The vast majority returned to Al Jazirah, Sennar, and Khartoum states. However, the returning population faces worsening living conditions, shortages of essential services, and the threat posed by explosive remnants of war. These conditions often lead families to return to displacement sites, which undermines the sustainability of return efforts.
As of July, more than 10.4 million people remain internally displaced within Sudan, including 8 million since April 2023 and 2.4 million prior to the war's outbreak.