Port Sudan, March 22, 2026 – CARE is shocked and deeply concerned by the drone attack on Al-Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur on the night of 20 March 2026. The strikes resulted in the death of at least 64 people and left nearly 90 others injured.
CARE has supported this hospital since 2015, operating a pediatric ward, a maternity ward, and a stabilisation centre that provides life-saving treatment for children with acute malnutrition and related medical complications. No CARE personnel were present during the attack, and all staff have been accounted for and confirmed safe. The destruction of this facility, the main referral hospital for the entire state, has rendered it completely non-functional, cutting off life-saving services for hundreds of thousands of civilians.
This is the second drone attack in Al-Daein in two weeks and part of a wider pattern of deadly escalations targeting civilian infrastructure and healthcare facilities in recent weeks and months. This attack constitutes yet another grave violation of international humanitarian law. Since the beginning of the year, 12 attacks on healthcare have been recorded, killing 114 people and injuring 148 others. Such repeated attacks place civilians, patients and humanitarian workers at grave risk and severely undermine access to essential services.
CARE is closely coordinating with partners to identify alternative health facilities to receive transferred patients. But Sudan’s health system is already under extraordinary pressure: after nearly three years of war, up to 80% of health facilities in conflict-affected states have shut down, while those still functioning face severe shortages of staff, medicine and essential supplies.
CARE reiterates that health facilities, patients, and medical personnel must never be targeted. We call for the protection of civilians and immediate cessation of attacks on critical civilian infrastructure.
For media requests, email usa.media@care.org.