Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP
The WHO announced Thursday the largest medical evacuation from Gaza since October 7 and said at least a quarter of those hurt in the war had "life-changing injuries".
The World Health Organization said that it along with partners on Wednesday evacuated 97 sick and severely injured patients from the war-ravaged Palestinian territory to Abu Dhabi for specialised care.
"This was the largest evacuation yet from Gaza since October 2023," Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative for the Palestinian territories, told reporters.
The patients, including 45 children, were suffering from a wide range of diseases like cancer, as well as serious trauma and other injuries.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the success of a"highly complex operation... despite severe operational challenges and insecurity".
The patients and 155 companions had first been transferred from four locations across Gaza to a hospital in the centre of the territory before being flown to Abu Dhabi.
WHO said it was especially complicated to extract the patients who had been in hard-to-reach northern Gaza.
"We had a very small window," Peeperkorn explained.
The patients were among the more than 10,000 people that the WHO has estimated require urgent medical evacuation.
According to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, at least 41,118 people have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, while over 95,000 have been wounded.
The Hamas attack inside Israel that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which also includes hostages killed in captivity.
The WHO on Thursday said it had determined that at least a quarter of all those wounded in the war up to July 23 -- at least 22,500 people -- had suffered "life-changing injuries", many requiring amputations and other "huge" rehabilitation needed for years to come.
And by Thursday, a quarter of all those wounded is "more like 24,000", Peeperkorn said.
WHO said "many thousands of women and children" figured among those badly injured and that many had suffered more than one injury.
It estimated there had overall been between 13,455 and 17,550 "severe limb injuries", which it said were the main driver of the need for rehabilitation.
The report showed that between 3,105 and 4,050 limb amputations had occurred.
Other life-altering injuries including spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury and major burn injuries, it said.
"The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the ongoing decimation of the health system," Peeperkorn warned.
Only 17 of Gaza's 36 hospitals are currently even partially functional, while primary health care services are frequently suspended or inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks and repeated evacuation orders.
Gaza's only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation centre, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO ceased functioning last December due to lack of supplies and specialised health workers.
"Tragically, much of the rehabilitation workforce in Gaza is now displaced," WHO said, also pointing to reports that 39 physiotherapists had been killed in Gaza as of May 10.
Peeperkorn said that "patients can't get the care they need".
"Acute rehabilitation services are severely disrupted and specialised care for complex injuries is not available, placing patients' lives at risk," he said.
"Immediate and long-term support is urgently needed to address the enormous rehabilitation needs."
© Agence France-Presse
