Israel Halts Gaza Medical Evacuations for Second Day
“For the second consecutive day, no patients or wounded people have been evacuated through the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings because of holidays observed by the occupation,” the ministry said in a brief statement.
Yoram Halevi, Israel's coordinator of government activities in the Palestinian territories, confirmed that the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings in southern Gaza remained shut Sunday and Monday due to the Jewish holidays.
The closures followed a decision by Israel on Thursday to cut the number of patients, wounded individuals, and accompanying companions cleared to leave Gaza for treatment in Egypt — reducing the total from 136 to 61 Palestinians, according to an earlier ministry statement.
The ministry called the reduction “a blatant violation of the right to treatment,” cautioning that it leaves hundreds of patients in danger of dying by cutting off timely access to specialized hospitals.
It urged the World Health Organization, the UN humanitarian chief, and other international bodies to “intervene immediately and exert direct pressure” on Israeli authorities to end what it labeled “arbitrary conditions.”
In late August, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said thousands of patients in Gaza were still waiting for medical evacuation to receive urgent care. He reported that 13,237 patients — including 6,276 children — along with 16,406 accompanying companions, had been evacuated from Gaza since October 2023.
A separate, earlier statement from the Health Ministry put the number of patients and wounded people still on the waiting list to leave Gaza at 20,719.
Israel partially reopened the Rafah crossing on Feb. 2, having controlled it since May 2024, permitting limited departures of patients, wounded individuals, and their companions under tight restrictions, along with the return of Palestinians from abroad. Months later, Israel extended similar permissions to the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing.
Palestinians returning to Gaza have described mistreatment by Israeli authorities during the process, including detention and extended interrogation before being permitted to continue home.
The latest closures come as Gaza's health system continues to grapple with the fallout of the war, which official figures say has included 445 attacks on health facilities, damaging 155 of them.
Gaza health officials say that since Oct. 8, 2023, Israel has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and wounded over 174,000 others in what those officials describe as a genocide in Gaza, while destroying roughly 90% of the territory's civilian infrastructure.
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