A man rushes a child into the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip after he was badly injured in Israeli bombardment on May 27, 2024. (AFP)

Geneva, May 28 (RHC)-- More people will die waiting for treatment in the besieged Gaza Strip if Israel continues its campaign of death and destruction in the border city of Rafah, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned.

Thousands of people are estimated to require urgent medical evacuation but few have been able to leave the Gaza Strip since Israel launched its barbarous attacks in early October.  

WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said on Tuesday that “there's been an abrupt halt to all medical evacuations” since early May, when the regime’s military launched its invasion of Rafah.  The cut-off obviously meant more people will die waiting for treatment, she said.

Before Israel started its hostilities in Gaza, between 50 and 100 people left the territory every day for treatment not available locally, including for cancer, Harris said.  “Those people didn't go away simply because conflict started, so they all still need a referral.”

In addition, Harris said, thousands now need to evacuate for suffering from severe wounds.  The UN health agency estimated that there are now typically “around 10,000 people who need to be evacuated... to receive the much-needed medical treatment elsewhere.”

An additional 1,000 critically ill and wounded patients have been added to that list, according to Harris.  Even more people now require medical evacuation as hundreds are suffering shrapnel and bun wounds after an Israeli airstrike set fire to a refugee camp in Rafah on May 26.

Harris said severe burns require “very, very complex treatment,” and “if you don't get that treatment, you die.”

The airstrike killed over 45 people, mostly women and children.  The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the dead included women and children, with many “burned alive” inside their tents.