WHO says over 100 critical patients will be evacuated from Gaza on Wednesday

GENEVA

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday announced that more than 100 patients will be evacuated from war-torn Gaza on Wednesday.

"Tomorrow, we plan with partners for a large medevac (medical evacuation) with over 100 patients, critical patients, outside of Gaza," WHO spokesperson Richard Peeperkorn told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Underlining that the patients are on the Health Ministry's priority list, Peeperkorn said they will be gathered at the European Gaza Hospital tonight as they have been planned to be moved to the Kerem Shalom crossing by 6 a.m. local time.

Then, "the majority of the patients will go to the UAE," he said, adding: "I think something like 13 patients will go to Romania."

He noted that since the closure of Rafah crossing on May 6 only 282 patients had been evacuated. Before that the number was close to 4,700.

88% of polio vaccination target reached

Peeperkorn underlined that due to the postponement of the polio vaccination in northern Gaza, where Israel launched military operations in early October, the WHO initially estimated that it would miss at least 15,000 children.

However, he added, as 150,000 people have been forced to evacuate from North Gaza toward Gaza City "it's difficult to really estimate what amount of children we would miss."

"Between Nov. 2 and 4, over 105,000 under 10 years have been vaccinated, and almost 84,000 children provided Vitamin A," he said. "That's actually 88% of the target. I think it's an exceptional achievement."

He said the final phase of the second campaign in North Gaza was aimed to reach an estimated 119,000 children under 10 years, according to the UN agency.

Phase one of the campaign, which concluded on Sept. 12, included over half a million Palestinian children.

An estimated 590,000 children across Gaza are supposed to receive the second dose, according to the WHO.

To interrupt poliovirus transmission, at least 90% of all children in every community and neighborhood must be vaccinated, Peeperkorn said, adding it will be a "challenging to achieve given the situation."