The health authorities in the Gaza Strip affirmed that around 1,500 children are waiting for border crossings to be opened in order to travel and receive treatment outside the Strip, amid a severe shortage of medicines and essential medical supplies that has led to the suspension of a large number of surgical operations.
Zaher Al-Waheedi, head of the Information Unit at Gaza’s Ministry of Health, stated that nearly 110,000 children are suffering from malnutrition, including about 9,500 children with acute malnutrition, which constitutes a serious indication of the worsening humanitarian crisis.
In addition, 42 percent of pregnant women in the Strip suffer from anemia, at a time when child mortality rates are witnessing a marked increase due to the absence of basic health services and the deprivation of patients especially children of travel to receive necessary treatment outside the Strip.
He added that 1,200 patients, including 155 children, have died due to the failure to evacuate them outside the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment, noting that the health sector is suffering from a 52 percent decline in essential medicines, while hospitals are facing a severe shortage of medical laboratory supplies.
He confirmed that 99 percent of orthopedic surgeries in the Strip’s hospitals have stopped due to the lack of necessary tools and equipment, calling for urgent intervention to allow the entry of medicines and laboratory supplies into the Strip on a regular basis.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had earlier confirmed that more than a thousand patients have died while waiting for medical evacuation from Gaza since July 2024.
A few weeks ago, the organization reported that more than 16,500 residents of Gaza are still awaiting urgent medical evacuation, while Doctors Without Borders announced that these figures include only officially registered patients and that the actual number of patients waiting is much higher.
