New Delhi, July 18 -- EL-OBEID - A single food package, now divided among dozens of families in one distribution, has become the measure of survival inside El-Obeid, a city in Sudan's North Kordofan that the United Nations said Friday has swelled to more than one million people, nearly double its pre-war population.

Abdallah Alwardat, the World Food Programme's Sudan director, described the city as operating at the edge of collapse. "The city continues to be stressed on food, water and fuel," Alwardat said. "Whatever we are bringing into the city is the only lifeline for these people."

Before fighting erupted in Sudan in April 2023, El-Obeid's population stood between 500,000 and 600,000. The Rapid Support Forces' months-long encircleme...