Sudan Crisis: Tracing The Israel, RSF Secret Links
While the RSF’s atrocities in El-Fasher shocked the world, a growing body of evidence points to covert Israeli links to the paramilitary group.
Dozens of people have been killed in new massacres by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) during their takeover of the city of El-Fasher in Sudan’s western Darfur region, according to medical and humanitarian reports.
“A True Genocide”
The Sudan Doctors Network described the situation as “a true genocide”, saying the RSF, which has been battling Sudan’s Army for control of the country, killed more than 1,500 people in just three days as civilians tried to flee the besieged city.
“The massacres the world is witnessing today are an extension of what occurred in El-Fasher more than a year and a half ago, when over 14,000 civilians were killed through bombing, starvation, and executions,” the group said, calling the attacks “a deliberate and systematic campaign of extermination.”
Satellite imagery from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab showed clusters of objects consistent with human bodies and large areas of red discoloration on the ground after the RSF advanced into the city.
At least 2,000 people have reportedly been killed since the crime began, including volunteers and Red Crescent workers targeted in mosques.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that 460 people were massacred at the Saudi Maternity Hospital, with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the organization was “appalled and deeply shocked.”
Israeli Fingerprints on the Crime Scene
While the RSF’s atrocities in El-Fasher shocked the world, a growing body of evidence points to covert Israeli links to the paramilitary group.
A recent investigation by Sudan Transparency revealed that Israeli intelligence services opened channels of communication with RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) as early as 2021.
The report cites a secret flight in May 2021 linked to a former Israeli military official, which reportedly delivered advanced surveillance equipment to Khartoum after a brief 45-minute stopover.
“Israel’s relationships in Sudan extended beyond the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) to the RSF Commander Hemedti,” the report stated, adding that the “shipment of advanced spying equipment” was part of these covert exchanges.
Independent researchers have also identified Israeli-made LAR-160 multiple rocket launchers reportedly in RSF possession, systems originally designed by Israel Military Industries.
According to Kribsoo Diallo, a Cairo-based Pan-African researcher interviewed by QNN, these ties likely had “direct consequences on the battlefield.”
“If confirmed, such links may have enhanced the RSF’s operational capacity through intelligence data or advanced communication systems,” Diallo said. “This could explain their ability to sustain a long siege over El-Fasher and carry out highly coordinated attacks on civilian areas.”
He added that the existence of such relationships, even indirectly through private arms networks, gives the RSF “a sense of political protection and impunity,” which undermines international accountability efforts.
RSF Copies Israel’s Gaza Playbook for Atrocities
Observers say the RSF has begun mirroring Israel’s language and tactics used in Gaza, framing mass violence as “military necessity.”
An Al Jazeera investigation found that the RSF used Israeli-style legal justifications to target civilian areas, such as labeling the Zamzam displacement camp a “military zone” before attacking it.
Legal experts say this mirrors Israel’s argumentation in Gaza, where hospitals, schools, and shelters are bombed under the claim they are “Hamas bases.”
An RSF adviser even told Israeli media that the Sudanese army’s actions “resemble terrorist Palestinian attacks on Israel”, a rhetorical appeal seemingly designed to attract sympathy from Tel Aviv.
“The RSF is adopting the same language Israel uses to legitimize collective punishment,” said Luigi Daniele, senior lecturer in international humanitarian law at Nottingham Law School. “Declaring entire neighborhoods or camps as ‘military zones’ is a clear attempt to strip civilians of protection, a tactic pioneered in Gaza.”
Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, told the Security Council that the massacres in El-Fasher “amount to genocide by all legal standards.”
“Women and girls are attacked in broad daylight,” he said. “What we are witnessing in El-Fasher is a continuation of a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing that has been ongoing since 2023.”
Human rights groups say the international silence surrounding both Gaza and Sudan underscores how external alliances and intelligence ties shield perpetrators from accountability.
“What we see in El-Fasher is not just a local tragedy,” said Diallo. “It’s the reproduction of a global pattern, where military technology, political cover, and intelligence cooperation cross borders to sustain impunity.”
Strategic Interests and the Red Sea Factor
Analysts believe Israel’s involvement in Sudan extends beyond its historical ties with the Sudanese military or normalization agreements.
Sudan’s strategic location on the Red Sea offers Israel both a security buffer and a geopolitical advantage in monitoring maritime routes and countering Iranian or Chinese influence.
“Sudan provides Israel with an entry point into the Horn of Africa and the Sahel,” Diallo told QNN. “By building ties with both General Burhan and Hemedti, Israel ensures leverage over whichever faction prevails, securing its interests regardless of Sudan’s internal outcome.”
This balancing act, he added, “complicates international accountability and turns Sudan’s conflict into a stage for regional power struggles.”
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