Gaza official urges daily evacuation of 1,000 patients as 22,000 need treatment abroad

The head of Gaza’s government media office, Ismail al-Thawabteh, told Anadolu Ajansi that 22,000 injured and ill Palestinians urgently need to travel abroad for medical care and urged that border crossings be opened to permit 1,000 patients to exit each day. He criticized Israeli figures, who reported around 10,500 people leaving Gaza and 6,000 returning since the ceasefire began in October, as grossly insufficient. Al-Thawabteh accused Israel of a deliberate strategy of procrastination that endangers patients by restricting evacuations.

He called on the World Health Organization, UN agencies and the broader international community to exert serious pressure on Israel to stop using the crossings as a tool of collective punishment and to simplify procedures. The official also highlighted the plight of roughly 90,000 Palestinians outside the enclave who are waiting to go back. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had earlier noted thousands still awaiting evacuation, with a recent week seeing 106 patients, including 19 children, moved through Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.