Israel reduces number of patients allowed to leave Gaza for treatment in Egypt from 136 to 61

Israeli authorities on Thursday reduced the number of patients and wounded Palestinians allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Egypt from 136 to 61 patients and companions, Gaza’s Health Ministry said, Anadolu reports.

In a statement, the ministry said “a group of 136 patients and their companions had received official approval to travel before Israeli authorities reduced the number to 72 patients and companions and sent the remaining cases back.”

Despite the ministry’s objection to the measure and the start of transporting patients, the Israeli side requested that an additional 11 patients and companions be returned, bringing the final number allowed to leave to 61.

The ministry stressed that the patients and wounded Palestinians included in the group require “urgent specialized medical care” in Egypt.

Following the development, the ministry decided to limit departures to “critically ill patients transported by ambulances” and return the remaining patients as a “collective protest” against “unjustified punitive policies.”

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The ministry said the measure constitutes a “flagrant violation of the right to medical treatment” and exposes hundreds of patients to the risk of death by systematically preventing them from reaching specialized hospitals in a timely manner.

It called on the World Health Organization, the UN High Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and other international institutions to “intervene immediately and pressure Israeli authorities to end the arbitrary restrictions.”

The ministry also called for Israel to fully facilitate the departure of all patients in accordance with the understandings reached in Sharm el-Sheikh in October, and urged that all patients referred for treatment abroad be allowed to leave in future groups without restrictions or exclusions.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since October 2023 has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 174,000, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian authorities.

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