Push Admin

WHO eyes big medical evacuation from Gaza on Wednesday

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1730818923242AFP__20240821__36EK27X__v4__Preview__TopshotPalestinianIsraelConflict.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Palestinians watch as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli strike after a warning from the army to its occupants to evacuate the premises, in the Rimal neighbourhood of central Gaza City on August 21, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas movement. Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Palestinians watch as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli strike after a warning from the army to its occupants to evacuate the premises, in the Rimal neighborhood of central Gaza City on August 21, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant Hamas movement. <em>Omar Al-Qattaa, AFP/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>GENEVA, Switzerland -- The World Health Organization said Tuesday a large-scale medical evacuation was planned from Gaza this week, with more than 100 seriously ill and injured patients due to leave the war-ravaged territory.</p><p>The WHO said that alongside its partners it would evacuate as many as 113 patients on Wednesday, with most going to the United Arab Emirates and some heading to Romania for specialized care.</p><p>If it goes ahead, it would be the largest evacuation from Gaza since October 2023, according to data from the UN health agency.</p><p>Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO&#x27;s representative in the Palestinian territories, said he was hopeful the evacuation would go ahead.</p><p>He said efforts were currently under way to bring patients from various hospitals across the Gaza Strip to the Gaza European Hospital near Khan Yunis in the south.</p><p>They will be transported to the Kerem Shalom crossing early Wednesday and then flown on to the UAE and Romania, Peeperkorn told reporters in Geneva, via video link from Gaza.</p><p>Those on the list figure among up to 14,000 people currently waiting in Gaza to be evacuated out of the territory for medical reasons.</p><p>Around half of them have sustained trauma injuries in the war and the others are suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer, he said.</p><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABPzZ9vvAw6RDoKs&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script><p>Since the war in Gaza began following Hamas&#x27;s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel, fewer than 5,000 people have been granted medical evacuations out of the territory.</p><p>Only 282 have meanwhile been able to leave since Israel shuttered Gaza&#x27;s main Rafah border crossing in early May, Peeperkorn said, adding that around a third of them had been children.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/11/4/israel-tells-un-it-is-cutting-ties-with-palestinian-aid-agency-2113">READ: Israel tells UN it is cutting ties with Palestinian aid agency</a></div><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/world/2024/10/29/outcry-as-israel-bans-main-un-palestinian-aid-agency-1429">READ: Outcry as Israel bans main UN Palestinian aid agency</a></div><p>Peeperkorn lamented the &quot;ad hoc&quot; access to desperately-needed medical evacuations from Gaza.</p><p>&quot;What we need is regular access... which would be properly supported, facilitated and not made unnecessarily dangerous,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;We need medical corridors, and the first medical corridor we basically request to be restored is the traditional referral pathway from Gaza to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and... a second medical corridor to Egypt should be open again, and maybe to Jordan.&quot;</p><p>Hamas&#x27;s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.</p><p>Israel&#x27;s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health ministry figures which the United Nations considers to be reliable.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div>

<p>The World Health Organization said Tuesday a large-scale medical evacuation was planned from Gaza this week, with more than 100 seriously ill and injured patients due to leave the war-ravaged territory.</p>

The World Health Organization said Tuesday a large-scale medical evacuation was planned from Gaza this week, with more than 100 seriously ill and injured patients due to leave the war-ravaged territory.