Gaza's Children in Urgent Need: Dying While Awaiting Evacuations

Wed Oct 29 2025 01:20:44 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

As Israel and Hamas navigate a fragile ceasefire, countless children in Gaza suffer the dire consequences of inadequate medical care, highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian action.

In the midst of a fragile ceasefire, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensifies as urgent medical evacuations for sick and injured children remain blocked. With over 15,000 patients awaiting treatment, many are at risk of dying without the necessary care. Eyewitness accounts from families reveal heartbreaking stories of children suffering from severe health conditions while medical resources dwindle in Gaza's hospitals.

So many lives in Gaza still hang in the balance.

In different wards of Nasser Hospital lie two 10-year-old boys, one shot by Israeli fire and paralysed from the neck down, another with a brain tumour.

Now that a fragile ceasefire is in place, they are among some 15,000 patients who the World Health Organization (WHO) says are in need of urgent medical evacuations.

Ola Abu Said sits gently stroking the hair of her son Amar. His family says he was in their tent in southern Gaza when he was hit by a stray bullet fired by an Israeli drone, leaving him paralysed.

He needs surgery urgently, Ola says, but it's complicated. Doctors told us it could cause his death, a stroke or brain hemorrhage. He needs surgery in a well-equipped place. Right now, Gaza is anything but that. After two years of war, its hospitals have been left in a critical state.

Sitting by the bedside of her younger brother, Ahmed al-Jadd, his sister Shahd recalls how he was her comfort through the turmoil of war, now he needs immediate treatment for a growing tumour.

In a desperate plea, she states, We can't lose him. We already lost our father, our home and our dreams. Their hope was revived momentarily with the ceasefire, but the deadlines for necessary evacuations loom as thousands remain trapped in precarious conditions.

On Wednesday, the WHO coordinated the first medical convoy to exit Gaza since the ceasefire began, taking 41 patients and their caregivers to hospitals abroad via Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing. However, the reality remains grim as blocked borders continue to jeopardise the lives of countless others in need of treatment.

Doctors express frustration over their powerlessness, forced to witness patients deteriorate due to a lack of resources, underlining the urgent plea for a humanitarian route to allow medical evacuations through Rafah and East Jerusalem.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports tragedy, with over 740 people, including children, dying while on waiting lists for treatment in just a year. Without immediate action, the chances for many Gazans to live, or recover, dwindle with each passing hour.