WHO calls on Israel to immediately rescind its evacuation order in north Gaza

CAIRO - 14 October 2023: The World Health Organization announced that it is joining other United Nations organizations in calling on Israel to immediately rescind its orders for more than a million people living north of the Gaza Valley to evacuate their homes. 

 

WHO said that a mass evacuation would represent a disaster for patients, health workers and other civilians who would remain in the area or be trapped during the Mass exodus.

 

The organization said in a statement that, with the continued air strikes and the closure of borders, civilians have no safe place to seek refuge. Almost half of Gaza's population is under 18 years of age, and with supplies of safe food, clean water and health services running out, and without adequate shelter, the risk of disease for children and adults, including the elderly, will increase.

 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has informed the organization that it is impossible to evacuate vulnerable patients from hospitals without endangering their lives. These patients have serious injuries and some of them depend on devices to survive, and transporting them in the midst of hostilities puts their lives in direct danger.

 

The two Ministry of Health hospitals in northern Gaza that are still operating have far exceeded their combined capacity of 760 beds and are severely overcrowded. Among the thousands of wounded and other patients receiving care in hospitals, there are hundreds of severely injured people and more than 100 people who require critical care, and these are in the most severe cases of illness.

 

There are several thousand others, who are also injured or have other health needs, and cannot access any type of care.

 

The limited time, complexity of transport logistics, damage to roads and, above all, lack of supportive care during transport all make their transport more difficult.

 

Moreover, the four Ministry of Health hospitals in southern Gaza have already reached or exceeded capacity, and lack the critical care capabilities and supplies needed to treat more patients.

 

As for medical supplies, their shortages are currently endangering the lives of patients and hindering health workers. The supplies that the organization had previously prepared in Gaza were mostly consumed.

 

On October 9, the organization’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, met with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who agreed to the organization’s request to facilitate the delivery of health and other humanitarian supplies from the organization to Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

 

The organization has prepared medical supplies at its logistics center in Dubai and is ready to deliver them to Al-Arish in Egypt - just 20 minutes from Rafah - as soon as landing permission is received. These supplies will be sufficient to care for more than 300,000 patients suffering from various injuries and diseases.

 

The organization calls for the immediate establishment of a humanitarian corridor to safely deliver these supplies to health care facilities in Gaza, including through Rafah.

 

The organization reiterates its call for the entry of life-saving supplies and the delivery of fuel, water and food for humanitarian purposes; to provide protection under international humanitarian law for civilians, health workers and health infrastructure; and ultimately to put an end to hostilities and violence.