A World Health Organization (WHO) plane carrying medical supplies to support urgent health needs in Gaza has landed at Al-Arish airport in Egypt. The medical supplies will be delivered to Gaza to meet critical health needs as soon as humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing is established.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated his call on Israel to reconsider its decision to evacuate 1.1 million people in Gaza. His remarks come after Israeli Defence Forces urged residents of Gaza to move from the northern part to the southern part of the enclave.
Taking to X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, “A plane with @WHO medical supplies to support the urgent health needs in Gaza has landed in Al Arish, Egypt close to the Rafah crossing. We’re ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established. We continue our plea to Israel to reconsider the decision to evacuate 1.1 million people. It will be a human tragedy.”
The plane carrying 78 cubic metres of health supplies includes enough trauma medicines and health supplies to treat 1,200 wounded patients and 1,500 patients suffering from heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems, and basic essential health supplies to serve the needs of 300,000 people, including pregnant women, the World Health Organisation announced in a press release.
“They also include trauma pouches with enough medicines and supplies to treat 235 wounded people. With hospitals in Gaza either nonfunctional or overwhelmed, and movement restricted due to fighting, these will enable injured people to be stabilized and receive immediate, lifesaving care anywhere it is needed,” the WHO said in a statement.
The WHO stated, “Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.”
According to the statement, WHO will work with the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies to ensure transportation and delivery of the supplies through Egypt and into Gaza.
On October 9, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who agreed to a WHO’s request to facilitate the delivery of health and other humanitarian supplies from WHO to Gaza via the Rafah crossing. The WHO noted that the Egyptian side of the crossing is accessible while the Israeli side remains closed.
