Gaza: Over 900 patients have died while waiting for medical evacuation because of restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities on travel permits for treatment outside the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in a statement Sunday.

The statement further indicated that as many as 16,500 patients are still awaiting approval to travel, among them 4,000 children who are sorely in need of urgent evacuation to salvage their lives, with persistent crumbling of the health sector.

Any further delay in handling emergency cases is tantamount to capital punishment, the statement warned. It further caveated that hospitals in the enclave are operating at less than half capacity, due to shortages of fuel, medicines, and fundamental essentials.

In addition, WHO pointed out that it has conducted 119 evacuation operations since May 2024, during which 8,000 patients have been transferred for treatment outside Gaza, among them 5,500 children, with thousands of patients facing unknown fate amid the crumbling health system.

Overall, the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza enclave is constantly aggravating amidst blockade and shortages of food and medical supplies, albeit the signing of a ceasefire deal on Oct. 11, which halted the two-year-plus Israeli aggression against the Strip.

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