21 children will leave Gaza in the first medical evacuation since early May

MOHAMMAD JAHJOUH, WAFAA SHURAFA and KAREEM CHEHAYEB, Associated Press

11 minutes ago

Israeli army tanks are seen in Wadi Gaza, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Twenty-one seriously ill children will leave Gaza on Thursday in the first medical evacuation since the territory’s only border crossing was closed in early May, Palestinian officials said.

The nearly nine-month war between Israel and Hamas has devastated Gaza’s healthcare system and forced most hospitals to close. Health officials say thousands of people need medical treatment abroad, including hundreds of urgent cases.

Relatives said a tearful farewell to the children as they and their companions left Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, en route to the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with Israel. It was not clear where they would be treated. The Israeli military body that coordinates civilian affairs in Gaza did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one where people can travel in or out, was closed after Israeli forces captured it early last month during their operation in the city. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side is back under Palestinian control.

Six of the children were transferred to Nasser Hospital from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week. Five have malignant cases of cancer and one suffers from metabolic syndrome. That evacuation was organized by the World Health Organization, which was not immediately available for comment.

At a press conference at Nasser Hospital on Thursday, Dr. Mohammed Zaqout, the head of Gaza’s hospitals, said the evacuation of the 21 children was done in coordination with the WHO and three US charities.

Zaqout said more than 25,000 patients in Gaza require treatment abroad, including about 980 children with cancer, a quarter of whom require “urgent and immediate evacuation.”

He said the cases involved in Thursday’s evacuation are “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 earlier on Thursday, many families seemed worried. Most family members had to stay behind and even those who were allowed to accompany the patients did not know their final destination.

Nour Abu Zahri wept as he kissed his young daughter goodbye, who suffered severe burns to her head from an Israeli airstrike. He said he was not allowed to leave Gaza with her, even though her mother had.

“It’s been almost 10 months and there is no solution for the hospitals here,” he said.

Kamela Abukweik burst into tears as her son boarded the bus with her mother on the way to the crossing. Neither she nor her husband were given permission to leave.

“He has tumors spread all over his body and we don’t know what the reason is. And he has a fever all the time,” she said. “I still don’t know where he’s going.”

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Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Chehayeb from Beirut.

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