They were taken to Egypt today 21 patients suffering from cancer and were besieged Gaza Strip. This was stated by a medical source at al-Aris hospital, in Egyptian Sinai, to Agence France-Presse.
“This is the first transfer” of patients outside the Palestinian enclave, said the source, who asked not to be identified, since the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was closed in early May after Israel took control of the Palestinian side of the crossing.
Since, Egypt and Israel blame each other for Rafah closurewith the Egyptian authorities refusing to manage the crossing in coordination with the Israeli side, preferring to cooperate with international and Palestinian authorities.
Insufficient amounts of aid
Since then, international aid has arrived in insufficient quantities through the Kerem Shalom crossing, located near Rafah, which has become the only aid crossing to enter the besieged Palestinian territory, whose residents are at risk of starving to death.
According to the UN, 500 trucks must enter daily to meet the enormous needs of the residents of the Gaza Strip.
In more than eight months of war between Israel and Hamas, at least 37,765 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest figures from the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.
The war began on October 7 with an attack by Hamas militants in southern Israel that killed 1,195 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 people kidnapped in the attack, 116 remain hostage in Gaza, of whom 42 are believed to be dead, the military said.
The war has wreaked humanitarian havoc on the tiny Palestinian enclave of 2.4 million people, which is besieged by Israel and threatened with famine, according to the UN.
In the few hospitals still operating in Gaza, many patients who survived Israeli attacks are expected to be left to fend for themselves or die from infections due to a lack of gloves, masks or soap, said American nurses returning from the Palestinian territory.
Sources: AMPE, AFP