UN announces ‘temporary’ measures for Gaza patients to travel for treatment

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, revealed on Monday some “temporary” measures for Palestinian patients in the besieged Gaza Strip to travel for treatment.

“A temporary arrangement has been agreed to support #Palestinian patients and companions from #Gaza to access essential #health services outside the Strip,” Mladenov tweeted.

The UN official did not give details about these new arrangements or indicate who the partners are in carrying them out.

However, he thanked the World Health Organisation in the Occupied Territories; Jamie McGoldrick, the UN Development and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine; and the UN Special Coordinator of the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) for their “amazing work with all parties.”

Since May, when the Palestinian Authority halted security coordination with Israel over Benjamin Netanyahu’s annexation plans, the Israeli authorities have been preventing patients travelling abroad from Gaza, citing a lack of coordination with the PA.

Due to serious shortages of medicines, medical equipment and expertise in Gaza as a result of the 14-year-old Israeli-led siege of the territory, many patients need to travel in order to receive vital treatment available in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, Israel or abroad.

READ: Gaza reports 162 new coronavirus cases