About a dozen children with cancer, blood disorders taken out of Gaza for treatment: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it and other partners have helped bring about a dozen children with cancer and blood disorders out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt and Jordan for treatment.

The WHO said in a news release Friday that it co-ordinated the move with the U.S.-based St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, as well as officials from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Gaza, the United States and the St. Jude Global Alliance.

The news release says more children may be brought out of the occupied Palestinian territory.

“I am relieved that children in vital need of cancer care have been able to leave the insecurity and uncertainty in Gaza and continue receiving life-saving treatment in Egypt and Jordan,” WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

“I also note the efforts, co-ordinated by St. Jude and WHO, of all relevant authorities to put the health needs of these children first. This show of desperately needed humanitarian action should serve to motivate increased access to life-saving care to all people affected by this conflict, both inside Gaza where needs are greatest today, and beyond. I pray this initiative can inspire all parties to put health and peace first.”

The war between Israel and Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, has lasted five weeks and left thousands dead and injured.

The WHO says the conflict has “obstructed” exit for patients from Gaza and “severely” restricted the entry of essential medical supplies, including chemotherapy.

In Gaza, 122 children received a cancer diagnosis in 2022, mainly leukemia, the WHO says. But due to a lack of some cancer services locally, these patients require referrals to hospitals in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

Prior to the war, the WHO says about 100 patients a day were referred for treatment outside of Gaza, of which a quarter were children and one third required cancer care.

“The two specialized hospitals offering care to cancer patients, including children, have been overwhelmed, undersupplied, exposed to attacks and, due to the insecurity, one has been forced to close,” the WHO’s news release said.

“Cancer care services are therefore severely limited, meaning it is critically urgent to transfer patients outside Gaza for treatment.”

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, most in Hamas’ deadly attack on Oct. 7, The Associated Press reports, while about 240 hostages were taken into Gaza.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry says the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza has reached 11,078, of which 4,506 are children and 3,027 are women, most of whom were killed in Israeli airstrikes. The ministry says another 27,490 Palestinians in Gaza have been wounded.

With files from The Associated Press