Relief as Palestinian medical evacuees leave Gaza

The World Health Organization (WHO) said wounded and critically ill Palestinians were being flown from Gaza to the United Arab Emirates for treatment, in the largest medical evacuation since the war began following Hamas’ brutal attack on southern Israel on October 7.

Later on Tuesday, the WHO said 85 seriously ill and injured patients from Gaza had been evacuated to Abu Dhabi.

The full-scale Israeli military operations that followed destroyed the health care system in Gaza.

And the main route for medical evacuations through Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt has been closed after Israeli troops took control of it in early May.

The WHO says about 5,000 Gazans have been treated outside the territory so far, but another 10,000 still need to leave.

This latest group begins gathering on Sunday at pick-up points to be taken to a central location before departure.

In the city center of Deir al-Balah, the bus station was packed with patients and their relatives.

“I appeal to the whole world to look at us with compassion,” said Shaza Abu Selim, who was pushing his daughter, Lamis, in a wheelchair. She needed major surgery to correct her scoliosis, which has been delayed by six months. She was barely moving, her face tear-stained and exhausted.

“I couldn’t believe it when they contacted me. [to say] that my daughter is among those on the list to be taken out of Gaza for treatment,” her mother said. “I don’t know when the war will end… and I pray that God will bless and heal everyone.”

Even before the conflict, some Gazans sought care outside the territory because the health system was not equipped to handle complex medical conditions.

But Israeli bombings have closed hospitals, killed doctors, blocked medical supplies and inflicted casualties on remaining facilities.

Nasima al-Ajeel’s story reflects the pain and despair this causes.

“We were attacked,” she said. “My eldest son was killed, my father was killed, my youngest son, Asser, lost his sight.”

Ms. al-Ajeel sat and held baby Asser, his eyelids closed over empty sockets. Her legs were wrapped in bandages.

“My left eye was blown out and my skull was fractured,” she said. “My middle son suffered a leg injury and a deformed leg, and I suffered a skull fracture, blindness in my left eye, broken shoulder and ribs.”

The Israeli military said it had discovered Hamas militants and infrastructure inside hospitals and health clinics, something the Islamist movement, which controlled Gaza before the war, has denied.

But human rights activists have accused Israel of obstructing medical evacuations.

Physicians for Human Rights in Israel and other groups filed a lawsuit with Israel’s Supreme Court in early June after the Rafah crossing was closed.

Since Israeli forces captured the border area at the start of their ground offensive two months ago, Egypt has refused to reopen the crossing, the only route out of Gaza that does not lead into Israel and previously the main escape point for fleeing civilians and a major aid conduit.

Egyptian officials insist that the Gaza side of the crossing must be returned to Palestinian control.

Following the court ruling, the Israeli government pledged to establish a permanent mechanism to allow regular medical evacuations.

But they have yet to do so, and on Sunday they announced the cancellation of the planned evacuation without giving a reason.

Public broadcaster Kan reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the decision himself after a deadly Hezbollah attack in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights over the weekend that killed 12 children and teenagers.

That appears to have been quickly reversed. Azza Ahmed Kafarneh, a 57-year-old mother and grandmother with cancer, told the BBC that patients had been prepared to go home when they heard the news, but were asked to stay because “there was a big chance they would let you go”.

Nothing is certain in this war, and for those lucky enough to escape it, the goodbyes are bittersweet.

Sarah Marzouk, a 12-year-old girl who said she lost a leg when her neighbor’s house was bombed, wipes away tears at a bus stop on Sunday.

“I hope the war will end and all the children like me will be able to come with me and get prosthetics and treatment abroad,” she said. “I also hope that I will return to see my father in peace.”

Ahmed Kafarneh said she would not have left if she had not felt so ill. She has not heard of any medical evacuees returning to Gaza.

“I’m torn between leaving my family and going out to get treatment,” she said. “And it could take longer and the war could take longer and things could get worse. No one knows.”