Medical evacuations under 'abrupt halt' in Gaza as 10,000 people need to be referred out: WHO

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said that medical evacuations in Gaza are under "abrupt halt" while 10,000 people need to be referred out.

"There's been an abrupt halt to all medical evacuations," WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said at a UN press briefing, in response to Anadolu's question.

"We have around 10,000 people who need to be evacuated. And since the increase in the violence in the area and Rafah, and the limitation on the services, we now have an extra 1,000 critically ill and injured patients who've been unable to leave Gaza to receive the much-needed medical treatment elsewhere," Harris stressed.

She noted that no evacuation has been done since May 7.

Regarding the possible deaths that occurred while waiting to be evacuated from the besieged strip, she said that she does not have the exact numbers of how many people died since the evacuations halted.

However, the spokesperson confirmed that "a number" of patients lost their lives while waiting to get approval for their referral, and those deaths happened before the evacuations came to a halt.

"So, while we're waiting for an agreement, a percentage of those people who are waiting to be moved, die," Harris lamented.

Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year.

The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.