Doctors Without Borders (MSF) stated that more than 20,000 wounded persons remain stuck in Gaza, after initial evacuations of foreign passport holders and severely injured Palestinians across the border to Egypt.
MSF stated in a statement that a number of severely injured persons had been evacuated and that its 22 international staff members in Gaza were among those who departed the territory through the Rafah border crossing.
“However, there are still over 20,000 injured people in Gaza with limited access to healthcare due to the siege”, the statement reads.
MSF’s Palestinian workers were still providing care in the territory, it claimed, and another international team was preparing to enter the territory to replace those who left as soon as the situation allowed.
The organization then called for a larger number of people to be evacuated, as well as a truce and the entry of more crucial aid.
“Those who wish to leave Gaza must be allowed to do so without further delay. They must also be allowed the right to return”, the statement continued.
Ambulances transported wounded refugees to Egyptian field hospitals near Gaza’s southern border on Wednesday, with Egyptian officials reporting that the Rafah crossing had accepted 335 foreigners or dual nationalities, as well as 76 badly injured and sick persons.
According to Israeli officials, Israel has persistently blasted Gaza in retaliation for the bloodiest attack in its history, in which Hamas fighters poured across the border and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
As per Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, the bombing campaign has killed 8,796 people.
The United Nations and relief organizations have raised the alarm about the Gaza Strip’s disastrous humanitarian situation, with food, fuel, and medication in limited supply for its 2.4 million residents.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency that works to assist Palestinian refugees, arrived in the territory on Wednesday via the Rafah crossing, telling journalists there he had never ever seen anything like it.
“I was shocked by the fact that everyone there was asking for food, was asking for water”, said Lazzarini, the highest-ranking UN official allowed into the besieged zone since the war began.
Also read: United States believes Hamas will be unable to govern Gaza in future
