Israeli Bombardment Leaves 18,000 Gaza Patients Waiting For Medical Evacuation Via Rafah

As Israeli bombardment continued, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said allowing a limited number of patients to depart did not meet urgent needs, noting that only 29 patients were able to depart on Tuesday via the Rafah crossing while 20 patients left on Monday toward hospitals in Jordan.

The ministry said thousands of patients and the wounded registered on waiting lists to travel abroad were still waiting for permission to depart, and it urged relevant authorities to accelerate medical evacuation procedures and enable safe access to specialized hospitals outside the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera

Since the crossing reopened, about 700 patients have left the Gaza Strip to receive treatment abroad, while more than 18,000 patients and wounded remain waiting for evacuation, according to earlier statements by PRCS spokesperson Raed al-Nems to Voice of Palestine.

The TRT عربي report also said Israel reopened the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing on February 2 of last month in a very limited manner with extremely tight restrictions, and it added that Israel was supposed to reopen the crossing in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on October 10, 2025 but it reneged on that.

The World Health Organization suspended its medical evacuation operations from the Gaza Strip to Egypt after a security incident in which a WHO vehicle was hit by Israeli fire on Monday, April 6, with the driver killed.

RFI reported that the WHO Director-General said the incident is a 'security incident' under investigation 'by the competent authorities,' and it quoted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying two other WHO staff members were unharmed.

InfoMigrants

RFI also relayed the Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva explanation that on Monday, during an IDF operation in the southern Gaza Strip, soldiers spotted an unidentified vehicle approaching them and posing an immediate threat, fired warning shots, and then returned fire after the vehicle continued to accelerate.

In a separate TRT عربي account of the Rafah corridor, the report said returnees to Gaza had reported Israeli mistreatment involving detention and harsh interrogations lasting hours before they were allowed to continue toward the enclave.

Even as evacuations faced interruptions, a medical evacuation operation toward the Rafah border crossing involved 85 people, including 30 patients and 55 accompanying persons, with the gathering operation starting from inside the Mawasi Field Hospital of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Khan Younis.

“A WHO convoy targeted in Gaza, medical evacuations suspended”

RFI

Al-Quds Al-Arabi said the Palestinian Red Crescent Society crews participated in receiving patients and their companions and providing logistical and humanitarian support, while the World Health Organization took on management and execution and coordinated with relevant authorities to complete discharge procedures through Rafah.

InfoMigrants reported that Milan welcomed 103 Palestinian refugees who arrived in Italy via medical evacuation corridors from October 2024 to the present, and it said the refugees formed 26 families including 46 adults and 57 minors.

The TRT Français report added that WHO said more than 18,500 people in Gaza, including at least 4,000 children, still require evacuation to receive medical care unavailable in the territory, and it quoted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the agency had supported the evacuation of 21 patients accompanied by 36 relatives from Gaza to Jordan on January 19.