WHO eyes big medical evacuation from Gaza on Wednesday

The World Health Organisation said on 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.

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 specialised care.

If it goes ahead, it would be the largest evacuation from Gaza since October 2023, according to data from the UN health agency.

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said he was hopeful the evacuation would go ahead.

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.

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.

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.

Around half of them have sustained trauma injuries in the war and the others are suffering from serious illnesses such as cancer, he said.

Since the war in Gaza began following Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel, fewer than 5,000 people have been granted medical evacuations out of the territory.

Only 282 have meanwhile been able to leave since Israel shuttered Gaza's main Rafah border crossing in early May, Peeperkorn said, adding that around a third of them had been children.