Allow Gazans to travel for medical treatment: WHO

The UN’s health agency pleaded on Friday for thousands of people in desperate need of medical care to be allowed to leave Gaza, in what it said would be a “game-changer.”

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has supported the medical evacuation of nearly 7,800 patients out of the Gaza Strip since the war with Israel began two years ago — and estimates there are 15,000 people currently needing treatment outside the Palestinian territory. But a US-brokered ceasefire that came into effect on Oct.10 has not sped up the process — the WHO has been able to evacuate only 41 critical patients since then.

Meanwhile, top US diplomat Marco Rubio voiced hope on Friday of soon putting together an international force to police the ceasefire in Gaza, as the main Palestinian political factions, including Hamas, agreed that an independent committee of technocrats would take over the running of post-war Gaza.

Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the Palestinian territories, called for all crossings out of Gaza into Israel and Egypt to be opened up during the ceasefire — not only for the entry of aid but for medical evacuations too.

“All medical corridors need to be opened,” he said, particularly to hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as happened routinely before the war.

“It is vital and is the most cost-effective route. If that route opened, it would really be a... game-changer.”

Speaking via video link from Jerusalem, he told journalists in Geneva that two evacuations were planned for next week, but he wanted them every day and said the WHO was ready to take “a minimum of 50 patients per day.”

At the current rate, he said evacuating the 15,000 people needing treatment — including 4,000 children — would drag on for a decade or so.

The WHO says more than 700 people have died waiting for medical evacuation since the war began.

The UN health agency has called for more countries to step up and accept Gazan patients. While over 20 countries have taken patients, only a handful have done so in large numbers.

Meanwhile, the US State Department on Friday appointed a career foreign service officer and the current ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, as the civilian lead for a new center working to implement a peace deal in Gaza and get humanitarian aid into the Palestinian enclave, the department said in a statement.

The announcement came after Rubio visited the Civil-Military Coordination Centre in southern Israel, and pledged that more US diplomats would be joining the roughly 200 US military personnel posted there.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said the United States and others must do more to push Israel to stop violating the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including the possible use of sanctions or halting arms sales.

“As Turkey, we are doing our utmost for the ceasefire to be secured. The Hamas side is abiding by the ceasefire. In fact, it is openly stating its commitment to this. Israel, meanwhile, is continuing to violate the ceasefire,” Erdogan told reporters on his return flight from a regional Gulf tour.

The wife of high profile Palestinian prisoner Marwan Barghouti, Fadwa Barghouti, appealed to US President Donald Trump to help release the popular leader from his Israeli jail, her son Arab told AFP.

“Mr President, a genuine partner awaits you — one who can help fulfil the dream we share of just and lasting peace in the region. For the sake of freedom for the Palestinian people and peace for all future generations, help release Marwan Barghouti,” lawyer Fadwa Barghouti said in a statement.

After two years of war, Gaza is buried under more than 61 million tonnes of debris and three quarters of buildings have been destroyed, according to UN data analysed by AFP.

In Gaza on Friday, families were still trying to find their way back to their ruined homes — in many cases only to find they lie in areas controlled by Israeli forces beyond the so-called “Yellow Line.”

“Some young men from our family risked their lives, they went to inspect the destruction in our area, and told us that my house was destroyed,” said 42-year-old Hani Abu Omar, a displaced Palestinian speaking to AFP at a tented encampment in Al-Zawayda. “All my life I’ve been working, earning, and doing everything I can to build a house.”

Agencies