The World Health Organization confirmed that more than 1,000 patients have died while waiting for urgent medical evacuation from war-ravaged Gaza in the last year and a half.
Citing numbers from the Gaza health ministry, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X said on Friday said that 1,092 patients were known to have died while awaiting medical evacuation just between July 2024 and November 28, 2025.
He noted that over 10,600 patients with severe health conditions have been medically evacuated from Gaza since October 2023, but thousands more remain trapped without access to life-saving care.
The WHO chief noted that evacuations carried out by the WHO and its partners included more than 5,600 children, all requiring critical and advanced medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.
But Tedros warned that “many more patients remain in Gaza awaiting evacuation to receive appropriate healthcare”.
“This figure is likely underreported,” he warned.
The WHO chief on Friday called on “more countries to open doors to patients from Gaza, and for medical evacuation to the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, to be restored.”
The World Health Organization [WHO] further underlined taht it could not deliver food to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza despite a “serious shortage” after delays at checkpoints.
The health system in Gaza has been devastated by the “Israeli” genocidal aggression, severe shortages of medicines and fuel, and damage to hospitals and medical infrastructure, leaving many patients unable to access specialized care such as cancer treatment, dialysis, or complex surgery.
WHO has repeatedly warned that delays and restrictions on medical evacuations are costing lives, particularly among children and patients with chronic or life-threatening conditions.
Also on Friday, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic also told reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva that some 18,500 patients were still in need of treatment outside Gaza, including more than 4,000 children.
Source: Al-Ahed News
