Children in Gaza dying as Israel curtails medical evacuations: UN report

United Nations agencies Friday raised concerns over plight of children in Gaza in the wake of ongoing Israeli aggression.

The agencies in their report said children in Gaza are dying in pain while being in need of emergency treatment as  Israeli authorities approving fewer and fewer of them for medical evacuation following the closure of the Rafah crossing.

“As a result, children in Gaza are dying, not just from the bombs and the bullets and the shells that strike them,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a briefing in Geneva. 

“Even when miracles happen, even when the bombs go off and the homes collapse and the casualties mount but the child survives, they are then prevented from leaving Gaza for the urgent medical care that can save their lives.”

Israeli authorities do not say when applications for medical evacuations are declined, and no explanations are given for their decisions, Elder said.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian issues including medical evacuations from Gaza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the question of evacuations generally or the specific cases cited by UNICEF.

Among the cases described by Elder was that of Mazunia, a 12-year-old girl whose face had been blown off in a rocket strike that killed both her siblings. A medevac, needed to save her life, had repeatedly been denied, despite an offer to send her without her mother.

“This is a 12-year-old girl,” Elder asid. “Now, I met Mazunia. She’s incredibly brave, but of course she is in immense pain and her condition is worsening.”