WHO Urges More Countries to Accept Gaza Patients as Medical Evacuations Lag
GAZA – The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on more countries to receive and treat critically ill patients from Gaza, warning that thousands remain in urgent need of evacuation amid a collapsing health care system.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced late Wednesday that the organization had overseen the evacuation of 35 patients—most of them children—from Gaza to Jordan, accompanied by 72 family members. He thanked the Jordanian government for its continued support in providing specialized medical care.
“More than 10,000 people in Gaza still need medical evacuation,” Tedros said on X, urging other countries to step in. “Their lives depend on it. Too many are waiting.”
The WHO renewed its call for expanding medical corridors and fully restoring the pre-war patient referral system to hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It warned that, at the current rate, it would take years to evacuate all those needing urgent treatment.
Gaza’s health system, already under strain before the war, is now near total collapse due to sustained airstrikes, supply shortages, and fuel cuts, leaving many hospitals non-functional and others barely able to operate.
