GAZA, (PIC)
Mohammed Zaqout, the Director General of Hospitals at the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, stated that more than 6,000 cases, including patients and injured victims of Israel’s recent aggression, are ready to travel outside Gaza for medical treatment.
In a special statement to the Qatari News Agency (QNA) on Sunday, he added that over 12,000 patients and injured individuals are in desperate need of treatment abroad due to the limited capabilities of Gaza’s hospitals and the collapse of the healthcare system as a result of ongoing Israeli targeting during the genocide against the Strip, which has lasted for over 15 months.
Zaqout’s remarks to QNA came just hours before 46 patients and injured individuals, along with their companions, left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, marking the second day of the crossing’s reopening following the implementation of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Zaqout explained that the small number of cases permitted to exit Gaza daily, starting from Saturday, will not allow for all urgent and emergency cases to be treated, expressing hope for an increase in numbers soon. He spoke of many critical and complicated medical cases that urgently need medical interventions not available in the hospitals of the Strip, noting that a technical committee has been reviewing these cases for months to follow up on their medical transfers.
The Director General of Hospitals indicated that 50 injured children and their companions crossed into Egypt from the Rafah border on Saturday, following the submission of a list of names to the relevant parties.
Zaqout mentioned that there was a phone communication with the patients and companions to arrange travel procedures, pointing out that the Palestinian Ministry of Health’s demands included transferring patients and injured individuals to other countries in addition to Egypt, but there has been no mechanism to organize this so far. Therefore, it was agreed that their treatment would take place in Egyptian hospitals, and he called for accommodating more individuals in other countries so that Palestinian patients and injured individuals can receive their right to medical treatment.
For the first time since the Rafah border crossing with Egypt was closed following its occupation by Israeli forces in early May, 2024 amid the war that erupted on October 7, 2023, a number of patients and injured children left for Egypt to receive treatment in its hospitals on Saturday.
According to the terms of the ceasefire in Gaza, which came into effect on January 19, 2025, 50 injured individuals and patients, along with their companions, will be allowed to exit Gaza daily through the Rafah crossing in the far south of the besieged Strip.
