Palestine: “These evacuations are life-changing and lifesaving”
MSF supports the evacuation of 13 children and their families from Gaza to Switzerland.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) welcomes the Swiss government’s recent medical evacuations from Gaza and urges resourceful nations to scale up their efforts to support as many patients as possible.
Following two years of intense violence in Gaza, the healthcare system is destroyed. Thousands of people are suffering from complex trauma injuries caused by bullets and bombs, or from life-threatening conditions such as cancer or kidney failure.
Partnering with the Swiss government, MSF has supported two rounds of medical evacuations, most recently of 13 children and their families. This follows the initial round on Oct. 24, where together we evacuated seven children. In both cases, our teams provided medical, mental health and logistical assistance to patients and their families from their departure in Gaza to Amman and on to Switzerland.
“These evacuations are life-changing and lifesaving,” says Trish Newport, head of MSF emergency response, in Switzerland. “Already, more than 900 patients have died while waiting to be evacuated for treatment and over 16,500 patients still remain on the medical evacuation list.”
According to the World Health Organization, several governments have evacuated thousands of patients from Gaza, including 3,995 patients to Egypt, 1,499 to the United Arab Emirates and 970 to Qatar, as of Oct. 21.
“[More than] one month into the Gaza ceasefire, living conditions remain desperate, with vital infrastructure destroyed, mass displacement and insufficient aid,” says Newport. “Palestinians continue to be killed and injured by Israeli forces almost every day, while severe restrictions on humanitarian aid persist. The Israeli authorities must immediately allow a massive and unimpeded scale-up of humanitarian assistance into Gaza and facilitate medical evacuation of all patients who require treatment that is not available in the Gaza Strip.”
Related news
Middle East and North Africa: Behind the armour, men’s mental health
Palestine: Ceasefire in Gaza, humanitarian aid must flow immediately
