WHO pleads for sick Gazans to be allowed to leave

The World Health Organization 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 October 10 has not sped up the process -- the WHO has been able to evacuate only 41 critical patients since then.

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.

Peeperkorn said only a fraction of Gaza's health system remained in service -- just 14 of 36 hospitals are even partially functional for a population topping two million.