UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the immediate evacuation of 2,500 critically ill children from Gaza, warning they face imminent death without urgent medical care.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the immediate evacuation of 2,500 children from Gaza who urgently need medical care.
His appeal follows a meeting with US doctors on Thursday who warned that the children were “at imminent risk of death in the next few weeks.”
I was deeply moved by the testimonies and impressed by the dedication of 4 American doctors that have worked in Gaza.
2,500 children must be immediately evacuated with the guarantee that they will be able to return to their families and communities. pic.twitter.com/X9VlRECWMu
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 30, 2025
Guterres said on X that he was “deeply moved by the testimonies and impressed by the dedication of 4 American doctors that have worked in Gaza.”
He added that “2,500 children must be immediately evacuated with the guarantee that they will be able to return to their families and communities.”
‘Some Will Die’
Dr Feroze Sidhwa, a California trauma surgeon, was one of the four doctors who volunteered in Gaza during Israel’s 15-month-long genocidal assault on the enclave.
“There’s about 2,500 children who are at imminent risk of death in the next few weeks. Some are dying right now. Some will die tomorrow. Some will die the next day,” Sidhwa told reporters following the meeting with Guterres.
Surgeon @FerozeSidhwa following a meeting he and three other American doctors (who worked in #Gaza‘s hospitals during the war) had with @antonioguterres today regarding healthcare in the Strip and the urgent need for medical evacuations to be facilitated by #Israel: “There’s… pic.twitter.com/cyUzV25FyE
— Rami Ayari (@Raminho) January 30, 2025
Sidhwa said that “the vast majority” of the children require “very simple things” to be done, citing the case of a three-year-old boy who suffered burns to his arm.
The burns had healed, he explained, but the scar tissue was slowly cutting off blood flow to his hand and “it’s absolutely getting worse.”
Gaza ‘Wrecked’
He does not understand that “the slightest nick he gets on it now is going to lead to an infection that either leads to his arm being amputated or him dying,” Sidhwa explained.
REPORT: U.S. doctors traveled to Washington, D.C., to brief Senate offices on the deliberate shooting of children in Gaza. No Senators or senior staff attended the presentation.
Dr. Mimi Syed, along with doctors @FerozeSidhwa and @mperlmuttermd, described the gunshot wounds to… https://t.co/jjWpnsKEe4 pic.twitter.com/sUcCe8mAgE
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) January 29, 2025
This was “a perfectly standard example of what’s going on,” he said.
“It’s not extreme at all. The care he needs could be done in any third world healthcare system, but because Gaza’s has been so wrecked, it’s not possible to do it there,” the doctor stressed.
Amputees Without Prosthetics
Another doctor who worked in Gaza from the end of November until January 1, highlighted the struggles of children who had undergone amputations but lacked access to prosthetics or rehabilitation.
She shared a photograph of two young sisters with amputations who were forced to share a single wheelchair.
‘Pandemic of Disabilities’ – Gaza Records over 4,000 Amputations
“They were orphaned in the attack that injured them,” Khan said. “Their only chance for survival is to be medically evacuated.”
Dr Taher Ahmad, who worked in Gaza in January last year, said “Under this ceasefire agreement, there is supposed to be a mechanism in place for medical evacuations. We’ve still not seen that process spelled out.”
Khan questioned whether children who are ultimately medically evacuated will be allowed to return, saying “There is some discussion right now of the Rafah border opening only for exits, but it’s exit without right to return.”
EU Resumes Rafah Border Mission
The EU resumed its Rafah Border crossing mission on Friday connecting the southern Gaza Strip to Egypt which will allow the transfer of Palestinians who need medical care out of Gaza.
“Europe is here to help: the EU’s civilian border mission deploys today to the Rafah Crossing at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.
The mission “will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care,” Kallas added.
The Rafah crossing, a vital route for humanitarian aid into Gaza, has been closed since May 2024 after Israel’s ground offensive began in the southern city.
(PC, Al Mayadeen)
