Few countries willing to receive Gazan patients despite Israel facilitating evacuations

The international community’s alleged concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza have not been translated into action. Despite Israeli efforts to facilitate the evacuation of Gazan patients, European Union countries have so far only been willing to receive 180 individuals in need of urgent medical assistance. Over two million people currently live in Gaza.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli defense official addressed the wide gap between international declarations and actions concerning Gaza on Thursday.

“While criticism of Israel continues to intensify, the world’s countries are in no rush to accept patients from Gaza,” the official assessed.

“Israel does not restrict these evacuations – on the contrary, it enables them regularly. But the initiative must come from the international community,” the official continued.

The official blasted the international hypocrisy on Gaza.

“While Israel is promoting solutions and enabling the exit of wounded individuals, some countries that champion humanitarian outrage are doing very little to ease suffering in Gaza,” the official stated. “If there is genuine concern for civilian welfare, it should be reflected in deeds– not just criticism.”

Some 50 Gazan patients were flown out of Israel’s Ramon Airport and the rest were evacuated by crossing via the Allenby Bridge into Jordan. The Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) coordinated the evacuation of the Gazan patients in cooperation with the World Health Organization and the European Union.

The Gazan boy Salameh Sarsawi who suffers from cancer, was evacuated together with his family to France.

“It was a great relief for us to be allowed to leave,” said Sarsawi's mother, Elham. While expressing gratitude towards France, she expressed concerns about the family’s future. “But we wonder, will we return to Gaza?”

Prior to the Hamas Oct. 7 massacre in 2023, Israel announced it would open up its borders to thousands of Gazan workers and thereby significantly boost Gaza’s struggling economy. Elham’s husband, Mahna, was one of the Gazan workers who were supposed to work inside Israel but the Hamas aggression against Israel changed everything.

“I was full of hope,” Mahna recalled. “But after Oct. 7, everything changed,” he continued. Unlike his wife, he argued that Gaza has become virtually unlivable and therefore hopes that his family will receive a refugee status and be granted to stay permanently in France.

Mahna also argued that Hamas still controls much of the humanitarian aid and mainly distributes it to individuals who are loyal towards the terrorist organization.

“Ordinary people like us get nothing,” he said. “I need 50 shekels a day just to buy bread. One pita costs 10 shekels. We can’t survive. All the leadership’s talk is nonsense,” he added.

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his Gaza plan, which calls for the evacuation of the enclave’s population while Gaza undergoes a significant reconstruction. More than 50% of Gazans expressed interest in emigrating if given such an opportunity according to a poll that was published in April. However, Middle Eastern and Western countries have criticized Trump’s Gaza plan and opposed mass evacuation from the war-torn Gaza Strip.

The international community has been more willing to receive Gazans with dual citizenship or valid visas. Some 3,700 Gazans have been evacuated via the Jewish state to third countries through this mechanism. The majority have been patients and their escorting family members. The few Gazans who have so far been evacuated, have been received by Western countries like Canada, Norway, the United States, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany. While most Middle Eastern states have refused to host Gazans, a limited number have been received by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

Omar Khairi, a candy shop owner from the southern Gazan town Khan Younis, expressed concerns about his 2-year-old son who reportedly suffers from a serious shrapnel injury in his leg.

 “He may never walk again unless treated abroad,” Khairi assessed.  “He’s just a baby,” he added. Omar described the challenging living conditions in the war-torn Gaza Strip.

“I live in a tent and receive no aid,” he argued. “Only looters and thieves get anything,” he added, in a veiled criticism of Hamas and its leaders who largely live in luxury in Qatar and elsewhere outside Gaza. “What kind of resilience are they selling? Let them come live in Gaza.”