Over 1,000 patients have died awaiting evacuation from Gaza since July 2024: WHO

The World Health Organization says more than 1,000 patients have died while waiting for urgent medical evacuation from war-ravaged Gaza in the last year and a half. 

Citing numbers from the Gaza health ministry, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X said on Friday said that 1,092 patients were known to have died while awaiting medical evacuation just between July 2024 and November 28, 2025.

He noted that over 10,600 patients with severe health conditions have been medically evacuated from Gaza since October 2023, but thousands more remain trapped without access to life-saving care.

The WHO chief noted that evacuations carried out by the WHO and its partners included more than 5,600 children, all requiring critical and advanced medical treatment unavailable in Gaza.

But Tedros warned that "many more patients remain in Gaza awaiting evacuation to receive appropriate healthcare".

"This figure is likely underreported," he warned.

The WHO chief on Friday called on "more countries to open doors to patients from Gaza, and for medical evacuation to the occupied West Bank, including East al-Quds, to be restored".

‘Hellish’: WHO says unable to deliver aid to Gaza hospital despite ‘serious medicine shortage’

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could not deliver food to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza despite a “serious shortage” after delays at checkpoints.

The health system in Gaza has been devastated by Israeli genocidal aggression, severe shortages of medicines and fuel, and damage to hospitals and medical infrastructure, leaving many patients unable to access specialized care such as cancer treatment, dialysis, or complex surgery.

WHO has repeatedly warned that delays and restrictions on medical evacuations are costing lives, particularly among children and patients with chronic or life-threatening conditions.

Also on Friday, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic also told reporters in the Swiss city of Geneva that some 18,500 patients were still in need of treatment outside Gaza, including more than 4,000 children.

A Doctors Without Borders official earlier this month said that the WHO figures refer only to registered patients, and that the actual number of people in need of urgent evacuation was several times higher.

Meanwhile, UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires told reporters that a third child has died from hypothermia in Gaza due to "horrendous weather and cold."

17 Palestinians die in Gaza amid extreme cold as Israel keeps blocking aid

At least 17 Palestinians, including four children, have died from cold in the Gaza Strip so far this month amid continued Israeli restrictions on aid delivery.

"We have seen reports that in December, up to now, three children have died of hypothermia, including yesterday, a 29-month-old baby who couldn't endure the disease, the cold temperatures, the lack of medical infrastructure, medicines, and support to help her survive, so the baby died of hypothermia," he said.

Gaza's government media office has repeatedly accused Israel of failing to meet its obligations under the Oct. 10 ceasefire and its humanitarian protocol, including the entry of shelter materials and the delivery of 300,000 tents and mobile homes for displaced families.

Separately, Gaza Health Ministry in a statement declared that the besieged region’s hospitals received one martyr and 13 injured over the last 24-hour period, due to the ongoing Israeli aggression.

Despite the ceasefire, Israeli forces have continued to carry out deadly attacks across blockaded Strip, killing 395 Palestinians and injuring 1,088, others, in addition to the recovery of 634 bodies, according to the ministry statement.

The statement further said that the overall Gaza death toll since October 2023 has mounted to 70,669, with 171,165 others injured.

‘Hellish’: WHO says unable to deliver aid to Gaza hospital despite ‘serious medicine shortage’

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could not deliver food to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza despite a “serious shortage” after delays at checkpoints.

“Many victims remain trapped under rubble of the destroyed buildings or on roads, as ambulance and civil defense teams are still unable to reach them,” it added.

Approximately 250,000 families are living in displacement camps, many in fragile tents susceptible to flooding and freezing conditions.

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