Photo: Israeli airstrike on the Al-Saftawi area in the northern Gaza Strip, October 21, 2024
Up to 1,000 women and children in need of medical care will soon be evacuated from the Gaza Strip to Europe, the head of the European office of the World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Israel, which has laid siege to the devastated Palestinian territory, has “committed to carrying out a thousand more medical evacuations to EU countries in the coming months,” Hans Kluge told AFP in an interview published Monday, October 21.
The evacuations will be carried out with the assistance of the WHO and the relevant European countries, he said.
On Thursday, October 17, UN investigators said Israel was deliberately targeting medical facilities in Gaza and torturing medical staff, accusing the country of “crimes against humanity.”
WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories Rick Pieperkorn said in May that about 10,000 people needed to be evacuated from Gaza to receive urgent medical care.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000WHO Europe has already facilitated 600 medical evacuations from Gaza to seven European countries since the war began in October 2023.
“This would never have happened if we had not maintained dialogue,” Kluge said. “The same can be said about Ukraine. I support open dialogue with all partners.”
"There are currently 15,000 patients with HIV or AIDS in the Donbas, the occupied territories of Ukraine, receiving medication," Kluge said, stressing the importance of "not politicizing healthcare."
"The most important medicine is peace," he said, noting that doctors must be able to do their work in conflict zones. According to the WHO, there have been about 2,000 attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. "It may have been almost accepted, but it should be outrageous every time," he said. "We will always continue to condemn this in the strongest possible terms."
Kluge expressed concern that the third winter of war in Ukraine is approaching. "Eighty percent of the civilian power grid is damaged or destroyed. We've seen it in hospitals, surgeons operating with a lamp on their heads," he said. "It's going to be a very tough winter."
Prepared by: Sergey Daga