Over 1,000 Palestinians died awaiting medical evacuation from Gaza in over a year, says WHO
Israeli attacks battered Gaza's healthcare system and Israel's ongoing blockade have worsened the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian enclave [Getty]More than a thousand Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip while waiting for medical evacuation permits from Israel between July 2024 and late November this year, the World Health Organisation said Friday.
Rick Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that 1,092 patients died between July 2024 and 28 November 2025, citing Gaza’s health authorities.
But he said the figure was likely an underestimate, based only on reported deaths. He added that the WHO "has called on more countries to accept patients from Gaza and for medical evacuation operations to resume to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."
According to Peeperkorn, 18 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals and 43 per cent of primary healthcare centres were only partially functioning, while there was a severe shortage of essential medicines and medical supplies needed to treat heart disease and other illnesses.
Despite improved approval rates for supplies destined for Gaza, Peeperkorn said the process of bringing medicines and medical equipment into the territory remained "slow and unnecessarily complicated."
Last month, WHO said around 16,500 patients were still waiting to be evacuated from war-torn Gaza but continued to face delays by Israel.
The UN organisation has carried out 119 evacuation missions from Gaza since May 2024, transferring 8,000 patients out of Gaza for treatment, including 5,500 children.
Most patients have been taken to countries in the Middle East and Europe.
During the offensive, the Israeli military deliberately targeted hospitals and other key infrastructure, while enforcing a crippling siege on the coastal enclave.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire coming into force in October, aid groups and Gaza's authorities have said that the level of aid entering the Palestinian territory is insufficient.
Under the ceasefire agreement, Gaza was supposed to be flooded with humanitarian relief, but Israel has continued to stifle aid entries.
On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to allow the full delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, cease obstructing the operations of UN agencies, and fulfil its obligations under international law.
The resolution was adopted during a vote on a draft submitted by Norway with the support of 13 countries.
A total of 139 countries voted in favour of the draft resolution, including Turkey, while 12 countries – led by the United States and Israel – voted against it. Nineteen countries abstained.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry welcomed the resolution, saying it upholds international law and the multilateral system, strengthens the UN’s role in protecting Palestinians, and underscores Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, stressing the need for its immediate and full implementation.
While welcoming the resolution and stressing its importance, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said in a statement that the vote was merely symbolic and lacked an enforcement mechanism to compel Israel and halt the ongoing war of genocide and starvation.
Israel’s war in Gaza killed more than 70,000 Palestinians since October 2023, mostly civilians, the territory’s health ministry said.