Thousands need to leave Gaza for urgent treatment, Health Ministry says

Thousands of sick or wounded Palestinians require urgent evacuation from the Gaza Strip to receive proper medical treatment that could save their lives, the enclave’s Health Ministry has said.

“There are 11,000 sick and injured people who are in desperate and urgent need to leave Gaza for life-saving treatment,” ministry spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra said on Wednesday.

Almost 350,000 people trapped in Gaza are in need of life-saving medicine, he added.

More than 27,800 people have been killed and 67,300 injured in the besieged enclave since October 7, the Health Ministry has said.

Israel’s air and ground campaign began on October 7 after Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, killed about 1,200 people and took 240 hostages in attacks on southern Israeli communities.

The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has warned that the widespread malnutrition in Gaza, a result of continuing food shortages since the start of the war, will have longterm consequences on the population.

The number of Palestinians suffering from malnutrition and other health conditions may pass the number killed during the war, reports and international experts said in a policy paper titled Gaza Strip: A Stage for Genocide Since October 7 and a Potential Famine Area by February 7.

The organisation helped to analyse the catastrophic food shortages in the enclave and identified indicators of the onset of famine, especially in Gaza city and northern areas.

The paper showed that the number of lorries carrying aid that are permitted to enter the Gaza Strip each day, in the bestcase scenario, is between 70 and 100, with only two destined for Gaza city and the north.

Before the war began, at least 500 lorries carried aid into the Gaza Strip each day.

Lima Bastami, legal director at the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, said the amount of incoming aid was not meeting the basic needs of the population.

“Their needs are increasing due to the inhumane conditions, genocide, power cuts and shortages of electricity, water and fuel,” she said.

She warned that about 53 per cent of the population of Gaza is likely to suffer from severe malnutrition this month.

Meanwhile, 26 per cent of the population – about half a million people – will experience famine, leading to an increase in deaths caused by hunger, malnutrition or related diseases.

Citizens trapped in the southern city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, fear that there is nowhere to go as Israel’s military approaches.

Amira Ismael, who fled Gaza city for Khan Younis and then on to Rafah, is worried about the fate of her children.

“Where can we go now? There are no remaining areas in the Gaza Strip,” she told The National.

Ms Ismael said she was concerned about her children’s psychological welfare, as their only memories are of the war.

“Every couple of years we witness a new war. My eldest daughter is 10, and she has experienced three wars,” she said.

Naziha Fazaa, who is waiting for permission to leave Gaza and join her fiance in the US, is counting down the days to her departure.

“I was supposed to be married this summer, but with the current situation and the war, there is no hope of holding the wedding in Gaza,” she told The National.

“All of our plans have changed, and now our future is unclear. All of that because we are Palestinians and live in Gaza.”