Geneva – Together – The World Health Organization announced on Tuesday that the urgently needed medical evacuations from Gaza, which were originally limited, have completely stopped after Israel’s military attack on Rafah three weeks ago.
It is estimated that thousands of Gazans need urgent medical evacuation, but few of them have been able to leave the besieged Strip since the outbreak of the Israeli aggression about eight months ago.
World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that since Israel launched its military attack on the crowded southern city of Rafah in early May, “there has been a sudden halt to all medical evacuations.”
She warned that this step means that more people will die waiting to receive treatment.
‘These people did not leave just because the war started, so they all still need a medical referral,’ Harris told reporters in Geneva.
She added that since medical services in Gaza have been catastrophically disrupted by the war, more individuals must leave to obtain the se
rvices they are accustomed to receiving within the Strip, such as chemotherapy or dialysis.
In addition, thousands now need to leave after suffering serious injuries during the war.
Harris said that the World Health Organization estimates that ‘about 10,000 people need to be evacuated… to receive the necessary medical treatment elsewhere,’ noting that among them are more than six thousand patients suffering from psychological trauma and at least two thousand patients from chronic diseases. Serious as cancer.
Harris added that since the complete cessation of medical evacuations from Gaza on May 8, a thousand patients and wounded people in critical condition have been added to that list.
Before that, the World Health Organization obtained Israel’s approval to carry out 5,800 medical evacuations, about half the number it had requested since the start of the war.
She explained that 4,900 patients were able to leave out of 5,800
Source: Maan News Agency
