The Sudanese capital, Khartoum, is still witnessing violent clashes between the army and the Rapid Support forces, especially in the vicinity of the Republican Palace, while the clashes have expanded in the western city of El-Obeid, amid warnings of running out of medical supplies and UN demands to provide international protection for victims of the conflict.

Al Jazeera correspondent reported hearing an explosion in the Al-Jarif area, east of Khartoum, with the continued flight of planes and the sounds of anti-ground missiles, and explosions were heard in the center of the capital and east of Khartoum North.

He said plumes of smoke rose near Jackson station and the railroad, with sporadic gunfire heard in central Khartoum.

Explosions shook the center of the Khartoum North area, while plumes of smoke rose in the sky of the Al-Waburat neighborhood, and the army said, in a statement, that what it described as rebels attacked the Khartoum North military area, and the military capital area, stressing that the army forces repelled the attack.

In the western city of El-Obeid, clashes also took place between the army and the RSF in the city.

Sudan's military said the RSF forced engineers to disrupt power and water control stations, cutting them off from large areas of the country.

For its part, the Rapid Support Forces confirmed the restoration of electricity service in a number of states and cities of eastern and central Sudan with the help of engineers and technicians, and confirmed that they continue to work with a large engineering team to fix the defect in the Bahri water station.

The RSF said it repelled a repeated attack from the army during the truce hours, confirming the conflicting decision-making within the army command.

The Rapid Support Forces announced their agreement to extend the truce for an additional 72 hours, in response to US-Saudi mediation.

It said in a statement that its agreement to extend the truce came in order to open humanitarian corridors and facilitate the movement of citizens and residents and enable them to reach safe areas.


Running out of medical supplies

On the humanitarian front, the Sudan Medical Syndicate called on the parties to the conflict to prevent armed presence in or near medical facilities. In a statement, it rejected any armed military presence within civilian medical institutions.

The military presence inside medical institutions or using them as platforms for bombing turns them into a battlefield, she said, noting that they treat the injured on both sides and do not allow any party to interfere in professional decision-making.

In a statement, the union said the number of civilian casualties as a result of the conflict had risen to 473 dead and 2454,<> injured.

In the same context, officials at the "Ahmed Qassem Hospital" in Khartoum North, told Al Jazeera that medical supplies for dialysis patients are about to run out, due to the interruption of supply.

Medical officials said the hospital receives about 60 dialysis patients daily, which is beyond capacity.

Medical specialists added that the exit of several hospitals from service increased the demand for medical supplies, and put great pressure on medical staff.

Dr. Attia Abdullah Attia, secretary-general of the Sudanese Medical Syndicate, told Al Jazeera that 16 hospitals have been bombed so far, and 19 others have been evacuated due to the ongoing clashes in the country.


Several pharmacies in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, have closed their doors since clashes erupted between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April, and residents in the areas of Khartoum North and Omdurman suffer from a shortage of medicines because of this.

The Sudanese Professional Pharmacists Association announced the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) takeover of Khartoum's central medical supplies pharmacy, warning that closing the pharmacy would lead to a health disaster.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry confirmed the matter and warned that the control of the central pharmacy is a further creation of a health disaster, as it put it.

Farhan Haq, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said the World Health Organization had verified 28 attacks on health facilities in Sudan that killed eight health care workers.

He demanded the right of both parties to the conflict in Sudan to ensure the safety of health care at all times.

For his part, the Sudanese Minister of Finance, Jibril Ibrahim, called for the opening of safe corridors, to enable medical staff to move and engineers to operate the malfunctions that affected the electricity and water networks.


UN demands to protect civilians

UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarado said more than 860,<> people were expected to be forced to leave Sudan if the fighting continued. She added in an interview with Al Jazeera that the refugees spent all the money they had on this difficult journey.

The governor of North Darfur, Nimr Mohamed Abdel Rahman, also expressed concern about a real humanitarian disaster after the evacuation of more than 113 staff from UN organizations working in the state.

Meanwhile, UNHCR has advised governments to allow those fleeing Sudan to enter their territory and not to be returned because of the conflict.

Tens of thousands of people fleeing clashes in Sudan face difficult conditions on the border between Sudan and South Sudan. South Sudanese authorities are seeking to provide a suitable environment for more than 20,<> people, most of whom are returning citizens, as well as nationals of foreign countries.

The United Nations also called on Friday to provide international protection for victims of the conflict and the changing situation in Sudan, whether they are Sudanese or refugees who were residing in Sudan, or even Sudanese asylum seekers in different countries.

This came in remarks made by the Director of the International Protection Program at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Elizabeth Tan, during a press conference in Geneva.


UNICEF warns

For its part, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Friday that the battles in Sudan for the past three weeks are claiming the lives of children "in large and terrifying numbers", pointing to reports that 3 children are killed or wounded every hour.

UNICEF spokesman James Elder told reporters in Geneva: "As we feared and feared, the situation in Sudan has become frighteningly fatal for a large number of children."

He said the organization had received reports from a trusted partner, which the UN has not yet independently verified, that 190 children were killed and 1700,11 injured in just the first 15 days of fighting that began on April <>.

In the same context, Reuters quoted UNICEF as saying that about one million polio vaccines have been lost in Sudan since the outbreak of violence.

Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes in Sudan since fighting began three weeks ago between the army and the RSF.