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Over 15,600 Gazans, including 3,800 children, in urgent need of medical evacuation: WHO

Iran Press TV

Sunday, 24 August 2025 6:37 AM

The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) says more than 15,600 individuals in Gaza — among them 3,800 children — are in need of immediate medical evacuation from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory to obtain specialized care.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a post published on his official account on the social media platform X on Saturday, shed light on the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which remains afflicted by Israel's relentless campaign of starvation and mass killing.

He emphasized that numerous patients continue to lack access to the essential care they urgently require, and called for prompt actions to facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance into the besieged region.

Tedros reiterated his appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza to facilitate the provision of essential aid and to avert additional casualties.

A senior official from the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Saturday that the situation in Gaza has gone beyond being merely a "catastrophe," as the territory is without a functioning health system and is succumbing to widespread famine.

"The situation is really beyond being described as a catastrophe anymore. Catastrophe is a very simple word now, soft word. It's really worse than calling it a catastrophe," Mohammed Abu Mughaiseeb, MSF's deputy medical coordinator in Gaza, said.

Mughaiseeb stated that the health sector has been systematically dismantled due to 22 months of Israeli bombardment, resulting in the destruction or inoperability of most hospitals. "I'm not saying now collapsed health system. No, there is no health system anymore in Gaza," he added.

The MSF official noted that the remaining field clinics and makeshift wards are inundated with injured and critically ill patients.

According to Gaza's Health Ministry, hospital occupancy rates have surged to 300%, resulting in patients being placed on bare floors and causing the suspension of numerous surgeries due to shortages.

Currently, only 15 out of 38 hospitals are partially operational, with the majority suffering significant damage from Israeli strikes.

Abu Mughaiseeb stated that the small number of recent aid trucks has had minimal impact on alleviating the escalating famine in Gaza.

"There is no food, no medicine, no real humanitarian aid," he said. "There is no food, no medicine, no humanitarian aid."

"The children who are dying from starvation, they have underlying disease."

"They could be treated and they are not supposed to die. I mean if they had food, they will live. If you have the special supplement proteins and milk, they will live," Mughaiseeb further stated.

The remarks follow the declaration of famine in Gaza by the global hunger monitor.

On Friday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system said 514,000 people - close to a quarter of Palestinians in the besieged coastal sliver- are experiencing famine.

At least 62,622 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 157,673 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023, according to the health ministry of Gaza.