Satellite images show RSF likely committing mass killings across el-Fasher

Systematic killings have taken place over the past two days since the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of el-Fasher, in Sudan’s Darfur, a new report has corroborated. 

The Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab (Yale HRL) investigated alleged executions, mass killings and attacks reported in at least four sites: a former children’s hospital, the offices of the Red Crescent Society of Sudan, the Saudi Hospital, and the vicinity of the earthen wall fortification around the city.   

The RSF stormed el-Fasher on Sunday, carrying out killings and abuses, some of which were documented by its own fighters. The city, where 260,000 people were trapped, had been under siege for over 500 days. 

Yale HRL found evidence over the past two days consistent with mass killings at the former Children’s Hospital east of el-Fasher, which the RSF took control of over a year ago and has operated as a detention centre. 

Using satellite imagery, Yale HRL found images consistent with a group of people queuing near the entrance of the compound on 27 October (they were not seen there a day earlier). 

On 28 October, the suspected group of people seemed to be more tightly packed, while light coloured objects also appeared in the southwest corner of the compound. 

The report stated that the activity may be consistent with a large group being present on Monday, subsequently killed, and their bodies visible the following day. 

In the Saudi Hospital, Yale HRL corroborated existing reports that the RSF committed mass killings.

🚨HUMAN SECURITY EMERGENCY🚨

Day 2: RSF continues mass killings in El Fasher: @HRL_YaleSPH finds evidence of mass killings at RSF-controlled former Children’s Hospital, Saudi Hospital and along the berm.#KeepEyesOnSudan
🛰️@AirbusSpace @Maxarhttps://t.co/1HApllgNL5 pic.twitter.com/g9KmBLhjH0

— Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) at YSPH (@HRL_YaleSPH) October 29, 2025

Satellite imagery on Tuesday showed the presence of white objects on the grounds of the hospital, as well as reddish discolouration near the facility’s walls. 

The white objects appear to be consistent with the dimensions of human bodies lying horizontally and bending at either the waist or knee. 

The images appear to corroborate reports by the el-Fasher Resistant Committee on Tuesday which said that wounded people in the Saudi Hospital had been “collectively liquidated by the [RSF] in horrific ways”. 

A video posted on social media, which appears to have been taken by RSF fighters, shows blood splattered bodies inside and outside the hospital, as armed militiamen walk through the premises.

Middle East Eye could not independently verify the footage.  

Mass killings

Elsewhere, near the earthen wall - a makeshift barrier constructed around the city in recent months - Yale HRL found yet further evidence consistent with mass killings. 

It found groupings of objects resembling bodies clustered along a dirt road running parallel to el-Fasher. At least five of the six groups had reddish discolouration on the grounds nearby. 

The groupings increased in number, as seen in satellite imagery, by Tuesday. 

In addition, at least five technical vehicles, at least one of which had a gun mounted to it, were visible near these groupings of suspected bodies. The RSF and its allies were the only armed groups with control of this terrain at the time of the images. 

A source told Yale HRL that mass killings took place near the wall. Video footage reviewed by MEE shows several dead bodies and people being killed beside an earth wall.

Blood splatter from RSF massacres in Sudan visible from space

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A survivor, now in the nearby city of Tawila, said the RSF separated men and women trying to flee the city. Some of the men were shot in front of the women, while others were put in trucks and taken away. 

Videos posted on social media showed RSF militiamen chasing and shooting people attempting to flee el-Fasher.

Yale HRL stated that the satellite imagery it analysed was consistent with the RSF rounding up and killing people trying to flee the city. 

Finally, the report showed a grouping of white and dark coloured objects at the offices of the Red Crescent Society of Sudan, resembling the size of human beings, which had not previously been seen prior to Tuesday. It’s not clear from the images what took place.

A report in Darfur24 said that the “headquarters of the Sudanese Red Crescent … was stormed by gunmen, who forced the medical staff to board combat vehicles and took them to an unknown destination”. 

Footage shared online showed RSF fighters beating Red Crescent workers and accusing them of belonging to the army. 

Potential war crimes

In a statement, the Red Crescent said that five of its volunteers in the city of Bara, North Kordofan, had been killed, while it had also lost contact with its team in el-Fasher. 

Yale HRL said the attacks on health facilities, patients and aid workers amounted to potential war crimes under the Geneva Convention. 

“These specific, targeted attacks alleged by civil society groups and corroborated, in part, by this report demand immediate investigation and require full accountability for those who allegedly perpetrated them,” it said. 

Satellite imagery published a day earlier by Yale HRL showed large blood stains covering el-Fasher visible from space. 

The RSF’s advance on the city came just hours after ceasefire negotiations in Washington collapsed.

There were hopes late last week that the US-sponsored talks could achieve some sort of breakthrough, but sources told MEE that the United Arab Emirates - the RSF’s most significant patron - refused to address the situation in el-Fasher. 

The RSF says it is in control of the city, describing its capture as a “decisive turning point” after the paramilitaries had lost significant ground to the Sudanese Armed Forces in recent months.

The UAE’s support for the RSF has been well documented. MEE reported in January 2024 that the UAE was supplying the RSF with weapons through a complex network of supply lines and alliances stretching across Libya, Chad, Uganda and breakaway regions of Somalia.

US intelligence agencies reported as recently as October that the UAE has increased its supply of Chinese drones and other weapon systems to the RSF, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Since Sudan’s war began in April 2023, RSF fighters have been accused of widespread massacres and abuses, including a genocide elsewhere in Darfur. The Sudanese Armed Forces have also been accused of war crimes.