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| A Palestinian child who lost his leg in an Israeli attack in Gaza | Photo: Reuters |
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the immediate evacuation of 2,500 critically ill and injured children from Gaza for urgent medical treatment. His plea came after a meeting with a team of U.S. doctors, who warned that these children face an imminent risk of death in the coming weeks.
The four-member medical team, all of whom have volunteered in Gaza during the 15-month-long war, described the dire humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli bombardment has devastated Gaza’s infrastructure, displaced over 2 million Palestinians, and collapsed the region’s healthcare system.
Following the meeting, Guterres expressed deep concern in a social media post, stating, “The conversation with the American doctors deeply moved me. We must ensure the immediate evacuation of these 2,500 children while guaranteeing their eventual return to their families and communities.”
A temporary six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began on January 19, but thousands of patients remain in critical condition. The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported that over 12,000 people in Gaza are awaiting medical evacuation. This number is expected to rise if the ceasefire holds.
Among them, 2,500 children require urgent medical intervention, according to Dr. Firoza Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon from California who volunteered in Gaza from March 25 to April 8 last year. “These children are on the brink of death. Some are dying now. Others will die tomorrow or the next day,” she warned after meeting Guterres.
Dr. Ayesha Khan, an emergency physician at Stanford University Hospital, worked in Gaza from November to January. She highlighted the severe conditions of many children who have lost limbs but have no access to prosthetics or rehabilitation. Holding up a picture of two young sisters who had undergone amputations, she told reporters, “These children are sharing a single wheelchair. Their only chance at survival is to receive medical care outside Gaza.”
The UN and humanitarian organizations are pressing for an immediate medical evacuation, warning that without urgent action, the death toll among Gaza’s most vulnerable children will continue to rise.