Gaza health ministry cites 21,468 patients awaiting evacuation

The Gaza Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that 21,468 patients and wounded individuals are waiting to leave the territory for medical treatment. This total includes 6,430 people identified as priority cases. The ministry issued the update while calling for the Rafah crossing to reopen to allow these evacuations to proceed.

The health authority attributed the current backlog to repeated border closures and what it described as deliberate delays in evacuation procedures. The statement noted that dozens of patients have died while waiting for permission to leave and that the health of thousands more has seriously deteriorated. Since February, the ministry has evacuated 3,056 patients for treatment abroad. Of that number, 2,614 left through Rafah, which connects to Egypt, and 442 exited via the Karem Abu Salem crossing with Israel.

The announcement came as Israeli attacks continued at a high pace across the strip. Al Jazeera correspondent Ashraf Abu Amra reported that drone strikes hit the center and north of the territory over the preceding hours. In central Gaza, an Israeli drone fired two missiles in quick succession at a civilian car in the Maghazi refugee camp. The strike killed two Palestinians and wounded others. The injured were transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where some were rushed into operating theatres and others admitted to intensive care. One patient is in critical condition.

Abu Amra described the strike as sudden and without prior warning. He noted that Israeli aircraft are flying at low altitude across all areas of the strip. Earlier in the day, an Israeli strike in Jabalia in northern Gaza wounded one Palestinian. That individual was taken to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Abu Amra also said attacks were escalating east of Jabalia in the Halawa camp. Israeli forces stationed along the edges of the so-called Yellow Line have begun firing directly at tents sheltering displaced families in that area.

In eastern Gaza City, explosions were heard in the Shujayea, Tuffah, and Zeitoun neighbourhoods due to Israeli artillery shelling. Israeli forces are conducting large-scale demolitions in areas under their control behind the Yellow Line. This includes locations east of Deir el-Balah, Khan Younis, and Gaza City, as well as Beit Lahiya in the north. The demolitions are destroying homes and remaining local infrastructure.

On Thursday morning, four Palestinians were buried at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. They were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the al-Mawasi area of Rafah, near the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem crossings. Abu Amra identified the victims as civilian employees of the Ministry of Economy who monitor aid trucks entering through Karem Abu Salem. Al Jazeera correspondent Moath al-Kahlout reported that more than 30 others were wounded in that attack. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in tents in al-Mawasi, an area Israel had previously designated as a safe zone.

Al-Kahlout also reported that 11 people, including women and children, were wounded when Israeli artillery struck a house east of Gaza City, citing emergency services. The Gaza Ministry of Health stated that six Palestinians had been killed and 38 wounded over the previous 24 hours.

The ministry’s call for the Rafah crossing to open stands as the primary mechanism for the remaining evacuations. The data provided on Thursday outlines the scale of the medical waiting list and the pace of departures since early in the year.