In a statement, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed frustration that only a few of more than 8.000 patients in the devastated Gaza Strip have been transferred to medical centers outside of the destroyed and besieged coastal enclave.
WHO stated that transferring patients outside of the Gaza Strip could help relieve the stress of medics and the devastated Gaza hospitals, struggling to continue to provide services to the Palestinians, amidst the massive destruction and the large numbers of casualties.
“We estimate that 8,000 Gazans need to be referred outside Gaza,” Rik Peeperkorn, the representative of WHO in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a video link from Jerusalem, during a press briefing in Geneva.
He added that an estimated 6.000 injured Palestinians, including many with multiple trauma injuries, amputations, and burns, are among the estimated 8.000 patients.
The remaining 2.000 patients were receiving treatment before October 7, 2023, and about 50-100 patients were transferred daily from the Gaza Strip to hospitals in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.
Peeperkorn stated that only 2.293 Gaza patients received referrals for medical treatment outside the Gaza Strip, in the period between October 7 and February 20.
He added that the process of referring patients outside the coastal enclave does not only involve WHO, but also hospital directors, and both Israel and Egypt.
“Since November, who started pushing for a system of a streamlined medical evacuation from the Gaza Strip,” Peeperkorn said, “We do not understand while this isn’t happening…”
Peeperkorn also said that Egypt, as well as many countries in the Middle East, and some European countries, offered to receive patients from Gaza and their companions.
He also stated that WHO is pushing for an organized and sustained medevac from Gaza, “First of all for the patients who need it, and deserve to get better treatment,” and added that this would help relieve some of the enormous pressure that collapsing hospitals and health services in Gaza are facing, especially since 23 out of the 36 hospitals in Gaza went out of services, and the remaining hospitals are partially functioning.
It is worth noting that Israel has now killed more than 30.631 Palestinians, mainly women and children, and injured at least 72.043, in addition to thousands who remain missing, largely buried under the rubble of bombarded homes and buildings, since October 7, 2023.
