Doctors Without Borders: Tens of thousands of Gaza residents need medical evacuation

A Doctors Without Borders (MSF) official appealed to countries to open their doors to tens of thousands of Gazans desperately in need of medical evacuation, warning that hundreds have died waiting for it.

Hani Islim, who coordinates medical evacuations from Gaza for the organization, said in an interview Tuesday that the number of patients accepted by countries so far “is just a drop in the ocean.”

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 8,000 patients have been evacuated from Gaza since the start of the war, while more than 16,500 patients still need treatment outside the Palestinian territory.

Speaking at MSF headquarters in Geneva after accompanying critically ill children from Gaza to Switzerland for treatment, Islim said that this number is based only on patients registered for medical evacuation and that the true figure is much higher.

“Our estimate is that the number is three to four times higher,” he added.