Rick Pepperkorn, the World Health Organization’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday, citing Gaza health authorities, that approximately 1,092 patients in the Gaza Strip died while awaiting medical evacuation between July 2024 and November 28, 2025.
Pepperkorn said this figure is likely an undercount and not fully representative, as it only includes reported deaths.
He added that the WHO has called on more countries to accept patients from Gaza and to resume medical evacuations to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
According to Pepperkorn, 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 43% of primary healthcare centers were only partially functioning, and there was a severe shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies needed to treat heart disease and other illnesses.
He said that while approval rates for supplies to Gaza had improved, the process of bringing medicines and medical equipment into Gaza remained “unnecessarily slow and complicated.”
