WHO director thanks Egypt for support with medical evacuations, health care in Gaza

CAIRO – 2 January 2025:  World Health Organization [WHO] director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, Algeria, Italy, Romania, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan and the USA for their support with medical evacuations and health care in Gaza during the last period.

He said in a statement, Thursday that WHO has repeatedly raised the alarm that patients in Gaza need urgent medical evacuation for life-saving treatment, yet the pace of evacuations remains excruciatingly slow.

He noted that only 5383 patients have been evacuated with support from WHO since October 2023, of which only 436 since the Rafah crossing was closed.

“Over 12,000 people still need medical evacuation. At this rate, it would take 5-10 years to evacuate all these critically ill patients, including thousands of children. In the meantime, their conditions get worse and some die,” Ghebreyesus said

He added that on 31 December 2024, 55 patients and 72 companions were evacuated to the #UAE. We thank the 🇦🇪 government for their continued support - they have helped with the medical evacuation of over 1200 patients so far.

“We also thank Egypt, Qatar, Türkiye, Algeria, Italy, Romania, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, France, Switzerland, Tunisia, Oman, Jordan and the USA for their support with medical evacuations and health care,” WHO director said.

He stressed that too many people's lives remain at risk, urging Israel to:

1) Increase the approval rate for medical evacuations, including no denials of child patients;

2) Expedite the process of approvals for medical evacuations;

2) Allow all possible corridors and border crossings to be used for safe medical evacuations.

“We also call on all countries to help by receiving patients and offering specialized health care to prevent more suffering and deaths.”