On Friday, Khartoum witnessed violent battles during the day between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, before the sounds of explosions stopped in the evening in some neighborhoods of the Sudanese capital on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, amid increasing calls for a truce for civilians and to allow the exit of foreigners.

After a seventh day of clashes that, since April 15, have left 413 dead and 3,551 wounded, according to the World Health Organization, international calls were issued for a truce on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.

In the morning, the Rapid Support Forces, led by Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, announced their agreement to this truce, but similar to what they do daily, the army and support forces exchanged accusations of violating it on Friday.

At night, witnesses reported that the sounds of explosions had stopped in several neighborhoods of the capital.

It is not clear whether calm is spreading throughout Khartoum.

In a statement posted online, Dagalo said he "discussed the current crisis" with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who "focused on the humanitarian truce, safe passages and the protection of humanitarian workers."

On Thursday, Guterres and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for a ceasefire during the three days of Eid "at least".

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, "It seems clear that the clashes are continuing and that there is no trust" between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces.

In the evening, the US State Department announced that "due to the unstable security situation in Khartoum and the closure of the airport, it is not safe at this time for the US government to conduct a coordinated evacuation."

The Rapid Support Forces quickly announced on social networks their readiness to partially open all Sudanese airports to air traffic to enable brotherly and friendly countries that wish to evacuate their nationals to leave the country safely.

Seven days ago, the two camps asserted control of many strategic facilities, including the airport, but the intensity of air strikes, exchanges of fire, and battles makes it impossible to verify on the ground the validity of what each side declares.

Washington announced the deployment of military personnel in the region in anticipation of any possible evacuation, and South Korea and Japan announced the dispatch of aircraft.

And on Friday, an official in the European Union announced that the bloc is preparing plans for possible evacuations of its nationals from Khartoum, if the security situation permits.

The Sudan Doctors Syndicate said that new hospitals were severely damaged in Khartoum, and four hospitals were hit in El Obeid, 350 km south of Khartoum.

In order to help civilians, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called for "immediate access to humanitarian aid as hostilities continue in Sudan."

The international body called on "the parties once again to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law."

The ongoing confrontations broke out for seven days, in Khartoum and in Darfur (west) in particular, between the regular army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is considered the de facto leader of Sudan since the 2021 coup, and the Rapid Support Forces led by Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo.

A power struggle that had lain for weeks between the two senior officers turned into a pitched battle.

A doctor from Doctors Without Borders said the "situation is catastrophic" in Darfur, which is one of the poorest regions in Sudan.

"There are so many patients that they are being treated on the floor in the corridors, simply because there are not enough beds," he added from Darfur.

The Air Force, which targets the bases and positions of the Rapid Support Forces deployed in residential areas, does not hesitate to drop bombs.

The Doctors Syndicate stated that "seventy percent of 74 hospitals in Khartoum and the areas affected by the fighting have stopped working," either because they were bombed, due to a lack of medical supplies and staff, or because fighters took control of them and expelled paramedics and the wounded.

The World Health Organization added early Saturday that it had "verified 11 attacks on healthcare facilities since the start of the conflict," with facilities in affected areas "almost non-functional due to staff exhaustion and lack of supplies."

Meanwhile, diplomatic contacts intensified in an effort to silence the guns. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Friday that he cut short his visit to the Asia-Pacific region for several days "because of the situation in Sudan."

Sami al-Nour, who lives in Khartoum, regretted that Eid al-Fitr came in the midst of battles and the "smell of death" that smelled instead of sweets and a joyful family atmosphere.

Ibrahim Awad, also a resident of Khartoum, said that confrontation was "inevitable" and that a country with two leaders and two armies "could not move forward".

Lieutenant General Al-Burhan delivered a speech on state television to the Sudanese on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, in his first appearance since the start of the fighting, without mentioning the possibility of declaring a truce.

Al-Burhan, who appeared in a military uniform, said, sitting in an office between Alamein, to Sudan, "Our country passes this year on the occasion of the blessed Eid Al-Fitr, and our country was hit by a very serious wound."

For its part, the United States announced Thursday that it is deploying troops in East Africa in anticipation of a possible evacuation of US embassy staff in Sudan.

South Korea and Japan will also send planes, while Khartoum airport remains closed since Saturday.

The battles broke out after al-Burhan and Daglo failed to reach an agreement on the conditions for integrating the Rapid Support Forces into the ranks of the regime army, in order to complete the political agreement regarding the return of civilians to power.

Large numbers of people, the majority of them women and children, scurry along the roads among the checkpoints and dead bodies, in order to flee. The United Nations stated that between ten thousand and twenty thousand people, especially women and children, went to neighboring Chad.

Most humanitarian organizations have had to suspend their aid, which is essential in a country where more than one in three people go hungry in normal times.

And the International Organization for Migration announced Friday that one of its employees was killed in the fighting in the city of El-Obeid in southern Sudan, after his vehicle got caught in an exchange of fire.

The International Crisis Group think tank warned that "neither Al-Burhan nor Dagalo seems to want to surrender, so the situation may get worse."

He added that "a long-term conflict would be devastating for Sudan," the third largest producer of gold in Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world.