UK denies medical treatment to critically injured Gaza children

UK’s World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that since Israel launched its military attack on the crowded southern city of Rafah in early May, “there has been a sudden halt to all medical evacuations.

The UK’s World Health Organization announced today, Tuesday, that the urgently needed medical evacuations from Gaza, which were initially limited, stopped completely when Israel launched its attack on Rafah three weeks ago. 

The World Health Agency has long asked Israel for permission to evacuate more seriously ill and seriously injured people from Gaza. It is estimated that thousands of Gazans need urgent medical evacuation, but few of them have been able to leave the besieged Strip since the start of the Israeli war about eight months ago. 

He further said that since Israel launched its military attack on the crowded southern city of Rafah in early May, “there has been a sudden halt to all medical evacuations.” She warned that this step means that more people will die waiting to receive treatment. 

Before the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas attacks on October 7, about 50 to 100 people were leaving the Strip every day with medical recommendations to receive complex treatments that were not available in the Strip, including cancer treatment. “These people did not leave just because the war started, so they all still need a medical referral,” Harris told reporters in Geneva.

She added that with the catastrophic shortage of medical services in Gaza due to the war, more individuals need to leave to obtain the services they are accustomed to receiving within the Strip, such as chemotherapy or dialysis. In addition, thousands now need to go after suffering severe injuries during the war. 

She said: Unfortunately if they do not receive treatment, they will die. Harris stated that the UK’s World Health Organization estimates that about 10,000 people must be evacuated… to receive necessary medical treatment elsewhere.

She added that among them are more than six thousand patients suffering from psychological trauma and at least two thousand patients suffering from severe chronic diseases such as cancer. 

She added that among them are more than six thousand patients suffering from psychological trauma and at least two thousand patients suffering from severe chronic diseases such as cancer. 

Harris reported that since the complete cessation of medical evacuations from Gaza on May 8, a thousand patients and wounded people in critical condition have been added to that list.

Before that, the UK’s World Health Organization obtained Israel’s approval to carry out 5,800 medical evacuations, about half the number it had requested since the start of the war. She explained that 4,900 patients were able to leave out of 5,800. 

More people need medical evacuation after an Israeli raid set fire to a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday, killing 45 people. Hundreds of civilians were injured by shrapnel and burns. 

Harris pointed out that severe burns require “very complex treatment, and if the injured person does not receive such treatment, he will die.” The massacre, which left charred bodies and children taken to hospitals with burns, sparked global outrage. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a “tragic accident.” James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), rejected this statement. 

He asked: I think the question that arises is what do we call the brutal attacks that claimed the lives of thousands and thousands of children… (or left) countless children whose limbs were amputated or thousands who became orphans? He added: I certainly think the question that needs to be asked is, how many more mistakes will the world allow to happen?