WHO collaborates with UAE for Largest evacuation with 85 evacuees from Gaza

World Health Organization (WHO), in an excellent humanitarian decision, has evacuated 85 ailing and critically injured patients from Gaza to Abu Dhabi for specialized medical care, working in collaboration with the UAE government and other collaborators.

It is the biggest medical evacuation from Gaza since October 2023. The evacuees include 35 children and 50 adults, who were transferred to Ramon Airport in Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing and were then flown to Abu Dhabi.

The patients include 53 cancer patients, including four children, with other conditions including trauma injuries, blood diseases, congenital conditions, and other critical diseases. The delegation also had 63 accompanying members of the patients’ families and caregivers.

Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, greatly appreciated this support from the UAE and stressed the importance of regional solidarity in the face of the humanitarian crisis that is happening right now in Gaza.

WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus added his own voice to the appeal for more evacuation corridors and a call for a ceasefire to end the suffering of thousands in Gaza.

This was a huge challenge of an evacuation, complicated by a variety of factors and greatly strained resources and resilience of the on-ground WHO team due to a last-minute cancellation. All of this was done while the office and infrastructure of the team were damaged in the ongoing insecurity.

WHO facilitated moving patients from all parts of Gaza, thereby ensuring that they pass through to the Kerem Shalom crossing. In fact, evacuation of nearly 5,000 patients has been conducted out of Gaza since October 2023, a majority of whom were transferred for treatment in Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE. But over 10,000 more need to be medically evacuated.

WHO continues to appeal for increased attention from the international community and a more intense effort to ensure that the evacuations are carried out safely and in a timely manner and, through such an effort, care can be delivered that saves lives.