Middle East latest: Dozens of patients and wounded evacuated from Gaza for treatment
Dozens of patients and the wounded have been evacuated for treatment outside the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations says Israel’s attacks on and around hospitals have pushed health care to the brink of collapse
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Your support makes all the difference.Dozens of patients and the wounded have been evacuated for treatment outside the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where the United Nations says Israel's attacks on and around hospitals have pushed health care to the brink of collapse.
The 45 patients left the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis early Tuesday and traveled through the Kerem Shalom Crossing into Israel, Palestinian health officials said. They will receive treatment in the United Arab Emirates.
Among them was a 10-year-old boy, Abdullah Abu Yousef, suffering from kidney failure. He was accompanied by his sister after the Israeli authorities rejected his mother’s application to join him. Israel says it screens escorts for security.
“The boy is sick,” said his mother, Abeer Abu Yousef. “He requires hemodialysis three to four days a week.”
The Health Ministry says several thousand Palestinians in Gaza need medical treatment abroad. Israel has controlled all entry and exit points since capturing the southern city of Rafah in May. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack has gutted the territory’s health care system and forced most of its hospitals to close. Those that remain open are only partially functioning.
Here’s the latest:
UN says Israeli attacks on Gaza hospitals push health system to brink of collapse
JERUSALEM — The U.N. Human Rights Office says Israel’s attacks on and around hospitals have pushed Gaza’s health system “to the brink of total collapse” and may have violated international law.
Israeli forces have besieged and raided at least 10 hospitals across Gaza since the start of the war, some of them multiple times. Israel accuses Hamas militants of using health facilities for military purposes but has provided little evidence.
Last week, Israeli troops raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in isolated northern Gaza and detained its director. The army said it apprehended 240 suspected militants.
The U.N. report released Tuesday said it documented 136 strikes on at least 27 hospitals and 12 other medical facilities from Oct. 12, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
“This report graphically details the destruction of the health care system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks in blatant disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement.
The report noted Israel’s allegations and that hospitals lose their protection under international law if they are used for military purposes. But it said “insufficient information has so far been made available to substantiate these allegations, which have remained vague and broad, and in some cases appear contradicted by publicly available information.” Israel has long dismissed such allegations from U.N. bodies, which it says are biased against it.
The nearly 15-month war, ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel, has forced most of Gaza’s hospitals to close and left the rest only partially functioning.