Thousands of Gaza children need urgent medical evacuation as death toll rises

The executive director of HEAL Palestine has issued a stark warning about the urgent need to evacuate thousands of injured children from Gaza, as the territory’s collapsing health system can no longer provide basic care. Steve Sosebee, co-founder of the humanitarian organisation, told Al Jazeera that “tens of thousands” of wounded children require medical treatment outside the besieged enclave. “That’s not counting those kids who have common injuries, common diseases, afflictions or medical conditions which normally could be treated within the Gaza health system but now have to go outside bec

The executive director of HEAL Palestine has issued a stark warning about the urgent need to evacuate thousands of injured children from Gaza, as the territory’s collapsing health system can no longer provide basic care. Steve Sosebee, co-founder of the humanitarian organisation, told Al Jazeera that “tens of thousands” of wounded children require medical treatment outside the besieged enclave. “That’s not counting those kids who have common injuries, common diseases, afflictions or medical conditions which normally could be treated within the Gaza health system but now have to go outside because the health system has been destroyed,” he said. Sosebee noted that HEAL Palestine is currently evacuating 37 people, including 11 children and their mothers to the United States for urgent medical care. He described the operation as logistically complex, involving coordination of medical records and cross-border clearances with both Israeli and Jordanian authorities.

A bloodied Palestinian child wounded in Israeli shelling (File: Anadou/Al Jazeera)

Despite these efforts, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to deepen. “There is a point of no return for malnutrition,” Sosebee cautioned. “For children who have been suffering from malnutrition, they reach some point where they suffer irreversible damage to their immune system.” Meanwhile, the situation on the ground has grown deadlier. Hospital sources told Al Jazeera that at least 86 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since dawn on Wednesday, despite the Israeli military claiming to observe “tactical pauses” in its operations. Among the dead are at least 71 people who were reportedly searching for food when they were killed. Since the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation assumed control of food distribution from UN agencies in May, Israeli forces have been regularly accused of opening fire on civilians attempting to access aid.