Patients in Gaza hospital await evacuation for treatment as part of WHO-organized operation

(6 Nov 2024)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4531298

++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE: GRAPHIC SHOTS OF INJURED PEOPLE INCLUDING CHILDREN++

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip - 5 November 2024
1. Various of injured people with their family members in ambulances waiting to leave hospital
2. Various of sick child Ali Darwesh with his grandmother inside ambulance
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Khitam Darwesh, grandmother of Ali Darwesh:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID SHOT4++
"He has a war injury. He had a fractured spine, a broken foot, burns on his hands and back, and stiff bones. The child suffers from autism and hyperactivity. He woke up the second day, unable to get up or move due to the war injury. He fell from the third floor and we found him on the ground, the rubble under and above him, his two brothers were martyred, and three of my sons and their wives and five of my grandchildren. I woke up and did not find anyone in the house."
4. Ali Darwesh with his grandmother inside ambulance
5. Khitam holding her grandson's hand
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mokhlis Darwesh, father of Ali Darwesh:
++++SOUNDBITE STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND IS OVERLAID SHOT4++
"My son’s condition has deteriorated a lot. He currently has ulcers on his back that have reached the bone. He cannot move his legs at all. He needs intensive physical therapy and requires surgical operations. I have been waiting for five months for any day for him to come out for treatment and for his condition to improve. Thank God, they call us today, God willing, he will head to the (United Arab ) Emirates."
7. Various of relatives gathering near ambulances
8. Injured inside ambulance
9. Medics closing ambulances
STORYLINE:
The World Health Organisation said it had been working to arrange medical evacuations for more than 100 people from Gaza on Wednesday, which would be the largest such operation of it's kind in six months.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, said the U.N. health agency was helping coordinate the evacuations through the Kerem Shalom crossing based on a list of priority candidates drawn up by the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Peeperkorn added that medical evacuations have been arranged for 282 people since Israeli forces forced the closure of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt on May 6.

Before the Rafah closure, nearly 4,700 people had been transferred out of Gaza in medical evacuations since the October 7 attacks last year, he said.

The largest one since May involved 97 people who were evacuated on September 11. Thousands of people remain on waiting lists to get out.

WHO said people with chronic conditions like cancer as patients from trauma cases – injuries -- were among those to be evacuated.

Peeperkorn said most would be taken to the United Arab Emirates for further care, while about 30 were to go to Romania.

Injured child, Ali Darwesh, was one the many being evacuated as a part of the operation.

His father, Mokhlis Darwesh, said he had been waiting months for his son to receive the treatment he needed.

"My son’s condition has deteriorated a lot. He currently has ulcers on his back that have reached the bone," he said.

"Thank God, they call us today, God willing, he will head to the Emirates."

Production by: Wafaa Shurafa

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