LONDON 

More than 14,800 patients in Gaza are still in urgent need of specialized medical treatment, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned, calling on the international community to act swiftly.

“We urge more countries to step forward to accept patients and for medical evacuations to be expedited through all possible routes,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement posted on X on Wednesday.

The appeal came as the WHO announced it had facilitated the medical evacuation of 15 critically ill children to Jordan on Wednesday morning, accompanied by 42 companions.

“We thank the government and health workers of Jordan for continuously offering specialised care to patients from Gaza, especially children,” Tedros said.

The WHO has repeatedly raised concerns over the overwhelmed and deteriorating health care system in Gaza, as hospitals struggle to cope with mounting casualties and severe shortages of medical supplies amid ongoing conflict.

The latest evacuation is part of ongoing efforts to transfer patients out of the besieged territory for treatment abroad, but Tedros emphasized that far more needs to be done to address the scale of the medical crisis.

Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its destructive war on Gaza, where more than 61,000 people have been killed since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave and brought it to the verge of famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.