The WHO has long been appealing for access to evacuate more seriously ill and injured people from the war-torn Palestinian territory.

Despite thousands of Palestinians needing urgent medical evacuation, very few have been allowed to leave so far.

Since the Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza Strip area of Rafah began in early May, “all medical evacuations were abruptly stopped” the following day, meaning more people are dying while waiting for treatment, said WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris.

Before the war began in the enclave, between 50 and 100 people left Gaza every day for specialised treatment, including cancer care, that is unavailable in the Palestinian territory.

“These people did not leave because the conflict started, so they need to be able to continue,” Harris told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

With Gaza's health infrastructure crippled, more people need to get out for treatment, including chemotherapy and dialysis, the UN agency spokeswoman added.

According to the WHO, around 10,000 people need to be evacuated “for essential, life-saving healthcare”.

Of those, more than 6,000 are trauma cases and at least 2,000 have serious chronic diseases.

Since medical evacuations from Gaza were halted completely on May 8, another 1,000 patients have become critically ill or injured, according to Harris.

“If they don't get treatment, they will unfortunately die,” she said.

Before the freeze, the WHO had received approval for 5,800 medical evacuations – around half of those requested since the war began nearly eight months ago.

But only 4,900 patients have actually been able to leave, the UN agency spokeswoman said.

More people in need of medical evacuation emerged after an Israeli strike on Sunday killed 45 people in a camp for the displaced in Rafah, a town on the border with Egypt, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by the Islamist group Hamas.

Hundreds of civilians were burned and wounded by shrapnel, according to Gaza medics and officials.

Severe burns require “very, very specialised treatment” and “if they don't get that treatment, they will die”, Harris said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the deaths a “tragic accident”, a claim dismissed by UNICEF spokesman James Elder.

“I think the question is what do you call the relentless targeting that has killed over a thousand children,” he said. “How many more of these ‘errors’ is the world going to tolerate?”

The war began on October 7, 2023, after an attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil killed more than 1,170 people, the vast majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Islamist movement, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, the United States and Israel, is also holding more than 200 hostages, around 130 of whom are still alive in the Gaza Strip.

In response, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive on the Palestinian enclave, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007.

Nearly 36,100 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive, according to Gaza's health ministry.

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