WHO Welcomes Egypt’s Hosting of Injured Palestinians

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed on Wednesday Egypt's decision to accept some 80 injured and sick people from the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip for treatment in Egyptian hospitals.

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The agency said in a statement that it has been working with the Egyptian Health Ministry "in planning and establishing a comprehensive triage, stabilization, and medical evacuation system, by providing ongoing training for health care staff."

According to WHO, Al-Arish Hospital in North Sinai "will be the main first referral hospital. It has fully equipped resuscitation and intensive care facilities, and a range of surgical teams to manage severe injuries." 

Referral mechanisms have also been established to second-line hospitals in Egypt, WHO said. 

The Egyptian Health Ministry confirmed today that Egypt received through the Rafah border crossing the first group of injured and sick Palestinians and transferred some of them to Al-Arish and Bir Al-Abd hospitals in North Sinai.

According to the ministry, quarantine doctors at the Rafah crossing also conducted medical examinations for 117 foreign nationals, including 35 children who received necessary vaccinations.

It added that "all cases are stable and receiving superior medical care from the medical teams at the crossing or inside the hospitals." 

Salama Maarouf, the head of the government media office in Gaza, said in a press statement "we appreciate all the efforts that resulted in the partial opening of the Rafah crossing, and we appreciate the step taken by the brothers in Egypt in receiving a number of those wounded to Egyptian hospitals."

He called on the Egyptian authorities to continue to open the crossing "permanently" to bring in all humanitarian needs and life supplies, "most notably the fuel needed to continue the work of service systems, which are now threatened with stopping work within hours."

"Enormous Humanitarian Needs" in Gaza

A total of 216 trucks carrying humanitarian aid have entered Gaza since Oct. 21, according to the United Nations. However, international relief organizations stressed this was still far from enough to address the "enormous humanitarian needs" in Gaza.

"So far, Al-Arish airport has received 67 planes carrying more than 1,500 tons of aid supplies to Gaza coming from 19 countries and 14 international organizations," Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent branch in North Sinai said in statements to the press. 

According to updated data from Gaza's Ministry of Health, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli shelling in Gaza has risen to 8,796, of whom 3,648 are children and 2,290 women.