80 Palestinians leave Gaza for Egypt in 1st medical evacuation since Israeli invasion of Rafah

Eighty people, including 21 children diagnosed with cancer and their guardians, left the Gaza Strip via the Karam Abu Salem border crossing as part of medical evacuations to Egypt, a source at North Sinai’s Ambulance Authority told Mada Masr. The Gaza Health Ministry said the evacuations were conducted in coordination with the World Health Organization (WHO).

This marks the first medical evacuation of injured or sick people from the war-torn coastal enclave since the Israeli military invaded Palestinian Rafah.

Sources at the North Sinai Health Directorate told Mada Masr that the children are to be transported 40 kilometers south from Karam Abu Salem to the Awja border crossing separating Egypt and Israel.

Israeli forces invaded Palestinian Rafah in early May, occupying and destroying the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza which previously served as the main crossing point for people and goods in and out of the strip. Egyptian sources have repeatedly told the press that they refuse to cooperate with Occupation forces to operate the crossing.

Speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, a source at the Ambulance Authority in North Sinai said that ambulance crews received instructions to move to the Awja crossing. From there, the crews are to move the patients to the Bir al-Abd Hospital in North Sinai and the Nasser Institute in Cairo. 

Since Israel began its war on Gaza in October, the Karam Abu Salem and Awja crossings have not been used to evacuate injured people out of Gaza. Around 4,000 Palestinians were evacuated from the strip via Rafah prior to its occupation, according to Egyptian health authorities.

The same source told Mada Masr that the 21 children were accompanied by guardians, as well as another 23 Palestinian patients, representing a total of 80 people. 

Director General of Hospitals in the Gaza Strip Mohamed Zaqout told Mada Masr that the evacuation was organized in coordination with the World Health Organization, describing the process as being “hard, complicated and unacceptable,” adding that “it does not represent an alternative to operating the Rafah border crossing.”

Zaqout added that around 25,000 people need medical evacuation for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, including around 1,200 adults and 180 children diagnosed with cancer. He said these patients are subjected to a slow death amid the closure of the border crossings and the Occupation’s destruction of medical facilities in the strip. 

Zaqout described the evacuation of 21 children as just a “drop in the ocean”compared to the number of cases requiring urgent medical care in Gaza. “Medical teams are unable to provide the necessary treatment to cancer patients in the strip as it is not available, including to those evacuated today who have only been [given] painkillers,” Zaqout said.

Egyptian authorities played a role in coordinating the exit of the 80 Palestinian patients via the Karam Abu Salem crossing, where Israeli security checks were conducted, said sources in the Israeli military’s southern command cited by Israeli news outlet Walla on Monday.

Earlier this week, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced that six cancer patients had been evacuated from the Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza City to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in the strip’s center, in coordination with WHO. Unconfirmed reports claimed at the time that the move was in preparation for the patients to exit the strip.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry denied on Monday night claims that it had made arrangements with the US to register patients and students wishing to leave the Gaza Strip, saying it was untrue that “any coordination of this kind exists.”

Where buses parked up on Thursday at the gates of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to take the patients and their guardians to Karam Abou Salem, Amna Tabaza, the mother of one of the evacuated children, told Mada Masr that she has spent four months waiting for this moment. 

“My daughter’s name appeared on the list of patients permitted to travel a month ago, but then they occupied Rafah,” she said. “I only gave her painkillers. We remained patient for so long until the time came. She lost so much weight because of the lack of food.” 

Yasmine Kawarea stood nearby, holding her child who is suffering from second and third-degree burns and preparing to take the bus out of Gaza. Since her daughter was injured, Kawarea told Mada Masr, “she doesn’t eat, she can’t sleep and is always crying.”

Some parents have been unable to accompany their children for treatment. Three mothers bidding farewell to their children told Mada Masr that Israel had only granted them permission to accompany their children from northern Gaza to the Nasser Hospital in preparation for their evacuation. They were not informed as to why they wouldn’t be able to travel outside of the strip as their children’s guardians.

Among the mothers who had to stay behind was Taghreed Aboul Naga, who told Mada Masr that she wasn’t allowed to travel, although her child’s grandmother was allowed to accompany them. She said she didn’t understand the basis upon which the decisions were made. 

Aboul Naga explained that her child is yet to be diagnosed. “All of a sudden, he was not able to move and began to complain about his leg,” she said, adding that due to the collapse of the healthcare system in Gaza, attempts to diagnose his condition had proved futile.

Authorities in Egypt, Palestine and Israel have not announced whether a mechanism is in place for regular evacuations to take place. 

Earlier this week, Al-Qahera News reported that 2,272 aid trucks have entered Gaza over the past three weeks via Karam Abu Salem, following coordination between Egypt and the United Nations.