MSF condemns bombing of hospital in South Sudan

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemns the deliberate bombing of its hospital in Old Fangak, Jonglei State, South Sudan.

The attack began at around 4:30 AM when two helicopter gunships dropped a bomb on the MSF pharmacy, burning it to the ground. The helicopters then fired on the town for about 30 minutes. At approximately 7 AM, a drone strike hit the Old Fangak market, resulting in at least seven deaths and 20 injuries.

“At 8 AM, we received around 20 wounded people at our hospital in Old Fangak, including four in a critical condition. There are reports of more fatalities and wounded in the community. One patient and two care givers, including one of our staff, who were already inside the hospital were injured in the bombing—patients who were not in a critical condition, ran from the facility,” said Mamman Mustapha, MSF Head of Mission in South Sudan.

“The bombing of our hospital in Old Fangak has resulted in significant damage, including the complete destruction of the pharmacy, which was burned to the ground. This is where all our medical supplies for the hospital and our outreach activities were stored, severely compromising our ability to provide care. We strongly condemn this attack, which took place despite the geolocations of all Doctors Without Borders structures, including Old Fangak Hospital, being shared with all parties to the conflict.”

“Old Fangak Hospital is the only hospital in Fangak County, serving a population of over 110,000 people who already had extremely limited access to healthcare. We are still assessing the full extent of the damage and the impact on our ability to provide care, but this attack clearly means people will now be even further cut off from receiving life-saving treatment,” Mustapha explained.

“We call on all parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure—this includes health workers, patients and health facilities. Hospitals must never be targeted, and the lives of civilians must be protected.”

This is the second time an MSF hospital has been affected in the past month. On April 14, 2025, the organization’s hospital and premises in Ulang, Upper Nile State were subjected to armed looting, cutting off the entire population of Ulang County from accessing secondary healthcare.