Regional WHO chief appeals for the immediate reopening of Egypt's Rafah border crossing with Gaza
World
Regional WHO chief appeals for the immediate reopening of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza
NEW YORK (AP) -- The regional head of the World Health Organization told The Associated Press on Sunday that evacuating hospitals from the northern part of the Gaza Strip is “impossible” and said Israel’s demand for the evacuation of medical facilities there goes against international law.
Ahmed Al-Mandhari said 22 hospitals with 2,000 patients in northern Gaza managed to move “mobile patients” to the south over the past two days but most of the patients can’t be evacuated.
“It is really very risky, very dangerous if we push these hospitals to evacuate,” he said in Cairo.
Egypt has yet to reach an agreement with Israel and Hamas to reopen the Rafah border crossing to deliver medical supplies and other humanitarian aid territory to the besieged, Hamas-ruled strip.
Al-Mandhari urged for the reopening “immediately, with no delay.” The U.N. health agency has supplies waiting in Egypt, around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Rafah crossing but cannot take them inside, he said.
Rafah was shuttered early on Tuesday after Israeli airstrikes hit close to Gaza’s side of the crossing.
