The territory’s Ministry of Health stated that it continues to follow with great concern and dismay the partial and restricted operation of the Rafah land crossing, as the humanitarian situation in the coastal enclave worsens.

More than 20,000 patients are waiting to leave for treatment, including critical cases of cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, and serious injuries, it emphasized.

In this regard, it warned that many of them require advanced surgical procedures that are unavailable in Gaza as a result of the destruction caused to the health system by the Israeli aggression.

Although the crossing was reopened on February 2, the number of people authorized to travel so far is very limited and does not reflect the magnitude of the health crisis, it stressed.

We received “distressing and harrowing accounts from patients and the wounded who traveled abroad for treatment” because they were subjected to restrictive and unjustified procedures and complications, he said.

Limiting the number of travelers and slowing down medical evacuation procedures poses a direct threat to the lives of thousands of patients and contributes to a serious deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, he stressed.

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