Gaza, Gaza Strip.- Israeli authorities announced that 68 people – 19 sick and injured children plus their companions – were allowed to leave the Gaza Strip and enter Egypt, in the first medical evacuation since May, when the only crossing was closed. transit of the territory.
The Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civil affairs, known by its acronym COGAT, said Thursday that the evacuation was carried out in coordination with officials from the United States, Egypt and the international community.
Children and their companions left the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing and patients were required to travel to Egypt and abroad for medical care.
The nearly nine-month war between Israel and Hamas has devastated Gaza’s health sector and forced the closure of most of its hospitals. Health authorities say thousands of people require medical treatment abroad, including hundreds of urgent cases.
Relatives said a tearful goodbye to the children as they and their escorts left Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, bound for the Kerem Shalom freight crossing with Israel.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one available for people to enter or leave, was closed after Israeli forces took control of it during their operation in the city early last month. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side is returned to Palestinian control.
Six of the children were transferred to Nasser Hospital from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week. Five suffer from cancer and one has metabolic syndrome. That evacuation was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), which could not be contacted for comment at this time.
At a news conference at Nasser Hospital on Thursday, doctor Mohammed Zaqout, director of Gaza hospitals, said the evacuation is being carried out in coordination with the WHO and three American charities.
Zaqout said more than 25,000 patients in Gaza need treatment abroad, including around 980 children with cancer, a quarter of whom need “urgent and immediate evacuation.”
He said the cases included in Thursday’s evacuation were “a drop in the ocean” and that the complicated route through Kerem Shalom to Egypt cannot serve as an alternative to the Rafah crossing.
At Nasser Hospital on Thursday morning, many of the families seemed anxious. Most relatives had to stay behind, and even those who were allowed to accompany the patients were unaware of their final destination.
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