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Congress presses for cancer exits
More than 60 members of the United States Congress urged Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian cancer patients in Gaza so they can seek treatment in hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, with a letter signed by 51 House members and 11 Senators addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Among the Palestinians seeking to leave Gaza, destroyed by Israel, there are severely ill children, a mother trying to reunite her family with her husband, and a student who hopes to study abroad”
Al Jazeera reported that the letter calls on the Trump administration to facilitate the medical evacuation of child cancer patients along with their caretakers, while also seeking Israeli guarantees for their return to Gaza.
The letter says the only obstacle between patients and the treatment they need is Israeli approval of evacuation requests, and it points to the World Health Organization estimate that 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals were destroyed or damaged during Israel’s war that began in October 2023.
The UN estimates that about 11,000 cancer patients are currently living in Gaza, where Israel’s systematic destruction of the healthcare system has left them unable to obtain adequate treatment, and it adds that at least 1,200 people have died while waiting for evacuation approvals, including a six-year-old boy with leukaemia named Ghazal.
In the same appeal, lawmakers urged the administration to engage Qatar, Egypt, and Türkiye in a coordinated diplomatic effort to secure medical evacuations for every child with cancer in Gaza, together with their caregivers, and to obtain Israeli assurances that they will be allowed to return to Gaza.
Hospitals strain as crossings close
The UN News described Gaza’s health system as “extremely fragile,” saying stocks of essential medicines, trauma equipment and surgical supplies are at critical levels while fuel shortages continue to hamper hospital operations.
WHO regional director Hanan Balkhy warned at a Geneva press briefing that “Half of Gaza’s hospital facilities are no longer functioning,” and the UN News said 18 of the enclave’s 36 hospitals are currently out of service.
The UN News also said medical evacuations have been interrupted since the start of the Israeli-American offensive against Iran, with the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings closed by Tel Aviv since the start of the operations.
Stéphane Dujarric’s spokesperson briefing in New York said “Most crossing points into Gaza remain closed, restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical evacuations,” and the UN News reported that for patients requiring specialized surgery or cancer treatment, the exit door has closed.
On March 4, the WHO managed to bring in a restricted cargo of medical equipment via Kerem Shalom, described by UN News as a one-off contribution in a system that is running dry, while all other crossings including Rafah remained closed.
Rafah closures and deaths
France Palestine Solidarité reported that on the eve of a planned March 1 departure, Israel closed Gaza’s border crossings “until further notice,” citing “security reasons,” dashing the family’s hopes for a medical evacuation for Alma, a baby under five months old who “could benefit from a medical evacuation.”
“Israel Blocking Gaza Cancer Patients From Travel to the West Bank for Life-Saving Treatment (Washington, D”
The mother, Lama Abu Rheida, said, “They told me the crossing had been closed, with no warning, because of the war with Iran,” while the report described Alma as hospitalized for more than three months at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza where her mother stays by her side day and night.
The same report said the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, has been closed for long periods during the war that began in October 2023, and it described a February 1 partial reopening as part of a trial phase following a supposed “ceasefire” with Hamas.
It also cited the Israeli occupying authorities’ statement that the Rafah crossing should reopen on Wednesday to allow “limited movement of people” in both directions, but it framed the stakes through the deaths of children who were waiting for medical authorization to travel abroad.
Agence Media Palestine described how, for two years, families seeking to leave Gaza have been trapped behind the Rafah border crossing, and it said Khitam Hameed’s hope for her son’s treatment hinged on reopening the crossing, which had been closed and controlled by Israel as part of its war despite a ceasefire agreement.
