Watch: UAE evacuates 86 wounded Palestinians for medical treatment

Israel and the World Health Organisation said more than 200 Gazans, both patients and their carers, were evacuated to the UAE or Romania on Wednesday for medical treatment.

In total, the group numbered some 230 people, according to the WHO and COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body responsible for civil affairs in the Palestinian territories.

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"This is the largest number of patients and caregivers who have left through the Kerem Shalom crossing in recent months," COGAT said in a statement.

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The operation was carried out in cooperation with the UAE, the European Union and the WHO, it added.

The humanitarian initiative saw the evacuation of 86 critically wounded patients from the Gaza Strip – including children and cancer patients in need of extensive treatment, accompanied by 124 of their family members – to Abu Dhabi from Ramon Airport in Israel, via the Kerem Shalom crossing, to receive vital medical treatment. The flight was the UAE's 22nd evacuation. To date, 2,127 patients and companions have been evacuated to the UAE.

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The UAE has undertaken robust efforts to provide advanced healthcare to sick and severely injured Palestinians. Since it began operations on December 2nd, 2023, the UAE Field Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip has treated 50,489 cases. Moreover, since its launch in February 2024, the hospital floating ship anchored in Al-Arish Port has treated 6,405 cases so far.

Notably, the UAE has provided over 43,000 tonnes of urgent aid, including food, medical, and relief supplies to Palestinian people.

WHO appreciates UAE's efforts

WHO appreciated UAE's efforts in evacuating the patients from Gaza.

"This morning in UAE, @DrMikeRyan welcomed over 80 patients from #Gaza, who were evacuated by @WHOoPt team and partners, for specialised care -- the majority need treatment for cancer or their injuries," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, said in a post on X.

"Once again, we are deeply grateful to @mofauae for their support and collaboration on this highly complex mission, which is absolutely necessary as people's lives depend on critical healthcare services.

"We once again urge for the rapid approval of medical evacuations, for ending denials of health care, and for using all possible crossings for medical evacuations.

"The best medicine is peace, for all patients in Gaza," he added.

The WHO said the "patients included those with autoimmune diseases, blood diseases, cancer, kidney conditions and trauma injuries".

The patients were transferred from Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Israel, and then to Ramon Airport near Eilat in southern Israel.

The WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, Rik Peeperkorn, had said on Tuesday that those on the evacuation list were among up to 14,000 people currently waiting in Gaza to be evacuated for medical reasons.

Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to Gaza health ministry figures which the United Nations considers to be reliable.

The ministry also lists 102,347 people as having been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.

Peeperkorn said that fewer than 5,000 people had been granted medical evacuations out of the territory since the war began.

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