Gaza gov't calls for urgent transfer of 6,000 critically injured people abroad for treatment

By Fayes Abdusalam and Halime Afra Aksoy

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - The government in Gaza announced Sunday that 6,000 critically injured people urgently need to be transported out of the enclave for treatment amid a humanitarian disaster due to Israel’s blockade and ongoing attacks.

In a statement, the media office in Gaza shared details about the "catastrophic situation" that the health sector is in due to the Israeli attacks since Oct. 7.

It said 30 hospitals in the area are out of service as more than 58,000 people have been injured due to the attacks.

"We call on our brothers in Egypt to urgently open the Rafah border crossing and approve the immediate transfer of 6,000 critically injured people out of Gaza for treatment due to the inadequacy of hospitals in the Gaza Strip to respond to so many patients,” it said.

Only 10 to 20 wounded are reportedly allowed to be transported per day, which has added to the hardships suffered by injured Palestinians, whose numbers are rising daily.

The office also called on the international community, especially the US, to pressure Tel Aviv to stop the "genocidal war" waged by Israeli forces against the defenseless Palestinian people.

According to a statement by the Health Ministry in Gaza, Israel has tried to put Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip out of commission by targeting it with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Israel has launched air and ground attacks on Gaza following a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, killing at least 22,800 Palestinians and injuring more than 58,400 others.

Nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

*Writing by Merve Berker