Doctors Without Borders Denmark urges gov’t to allow treatment of wounded from Gaza

Palestine Red Crescent Society teams evacuate 21 patients from Al-Awda and Indonesia Hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli attacks, escalating Gaza’s humanitarian crisis in Gaza City, Gaza on November 01, 2024 [Palestine Red Crescent Society – Anadolu Agency]

Doctors Without Borders Denmark urged the Danish government to reconsider its position when it comes to the Nordic country’s refusal to accept sick and injured patients from Gaza, local media reported today.

Although Denmark is evacuating and treating patients from Ukraine, authorities have refused to treat Palestinian patients from Gaza.

For patients who cannot get necessary treatment inside Gaza, “this is a matter of life and death,” said Gitte Ronde, the president of Doctors Without Borders Denmark.

“Denmark must take responsibility and help those in urgent need of evacuation from Gaza for specialised treatment,” she was quoted as saying by newswire Ritzau.

Yesterday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that Denmark “should help critically ill Palestinians.”

Gaza’s health care system has nearly collapsed, as “only 17 out of 36 hospitals still partially functioning with severe deficit of medicines and fuel, and 500 health workers killed,” said Belkis Wille, associate director of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division at HRW.

“Despite the Israeli military’s allegations that Hamas bases itself in hospitals, no evidence put forward would justify depriving hospitals and ambulances of their protected status under international humanitarian law,” she said in a press release.

The rights group estimates that as of 30 September, out of 15,600 patients for whom medical evacuation has been requested since October 2023, Israel has only approved and allowed Egypt to carry out the evacuation of 6,075, with only 229 patients have been allowed to leave Gaza by Israeli authorities since it closed the Rafah Crossing on 7 May 2024.

In recent months, Brussels has called on EU countries to accept patients evacuated from Gaza leading to some member states like Norway, Spain and Italy agreeing to treat the wounded.

The EU call came after the World Health Organisation (WHO) formally requested assistance under the bloc’s Civil Protection Mechanism.

READ: Denmark repatriates mother, son from Syria detention camp

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