ROMA – Israeli authorities have blocked, without explanation, the medical evacuation of 8 children and their guardians from Gaza in need of medical care, including a 2-year-old boy with leg amputations, to hospital in Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Jordan. The humanitarian organization, Nobel Peace Prize winner, strongly denounces this decision which arrived on November 10th.
“It’s shocking and outrageous.” “It is absolutely shocking and outrageous that the Israeli government is preventing children in need of essential care from leaving Gaza – says Moeen Mahmood, head of mission of MSF in Jordan – the refusal to carry out urgent medical evacuations goes against all reason and humanity”. In recent months, MSF has requested the medical evacuation of 32 children and their guardians from Gaza to Jordan. Only 6 of them have been allowed to leave the Strip and they are receiving treatment at the MSF hospital in Amman.
Long procedures and inexplicable denials. This is what is blocking the provision of medical care to seriously injured children in Gaza. Gaza’s healthcare system has been dismantled and those in need of specialized medical care have nowhere to go. According to the WHO, there are at least 14,000 people in need of medical evacuation in the Strip. Since October 7, 2023, over 43,000 people have been killed and 100,000 injured in Gaza. MSF calls on the Israeli authorities to ensure the medical evacuation of Palestinians in need of medical care, including their guardians, while ensuring that all patients and their companions are guaranteed a safe, voluntary and dignified return to Gaza.
The MSF reconstructive surgery hospital in Amman. The MSF hospital in Amman, Jordan, offers reconstructive, orthopaedic, plastic and maxillofacial surgery services, physiotherapy, mental health support and prosthetic implantation. The hospital is a new generation facility and represents a point of reference for the treatment of patients arriving from all over the Middle East – mainly from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Syria, Yemen – who suffer serious injuries and who could not be treated in their countries of origin. To date only 6 children and their guardians have been allowed to leave Gaza to receive treatment in the MSF hospital.
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