The occupying authorities continue to tighten the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, restricting the entry of necessary quantities of food and medicine, as well as imposing restrictions on travel that prevent the required number of patients and wounded individuals from leaving to receive treatment abroad. This comes amidst a severe shortage of medicines and medical equipment within the health system.
Patient Evacuations Halted
In this context, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the Israeli occupation continues to close the Rafah border crossing for the second week in a row, preventing the evacuation of patients and wounded individuals for treatment abroad.
The Ministry considered these practices to be “an extension of the series of grave violations of international humanitarian law and a deliberate denial of the wounded and sick of their fundamental right to treatment.”
It warned of the serious repercussions of the continued closure, which has led to a rapidly accumulating number of critical medical cases, while waiting lists grow longer every day, far exceeding the capacity of the dilapidated and besieged hospitals to accommodate or provide even the minimum level of medical care.
The ministry called on all relevant parties to exert serious and urgent pressure on the occupation authorities to open the Rafah crossing and all other crossings, and to facilitate the exit of critical medical cases, in order to save as many lives as possible from the sick and wounded.
