GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Medical Referrals Committee confirmed on Thursday that the scheduled departure of patients through the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip had been canceled because the necessary coordination was not available.
“This is the third cancellation in two weeks,” the committee said in a statement. “During that period, patients were able to travel only three times out of six scheduled departures.”
The committee said the cancellations delay treatment for patients in need of care, increase the number of people on waiting lists, and worsen the suffering of patients and their families as travel is repeatedly postponed.
It stressed that organizing travel lists and reviewing medical cases does not mean the committee controls the opening of the crossing or the issuance of approvals and security coordination.
“Any cancellation or delay resulting from the lack of coordination is beyond our control,” the committee said.
It added: “We hope citizens understand these circumstances and do not hold the committee responsible for procedures and decisions that fall outside its authority.”
Raed Al-Nims, spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society in the Gaza Strip, had previously warned about the consequences of the intermittent closure of the Rafah crossing, saying it increases risks to the lives of patients and wounded Palestinians.
He said the number of people allowed to leave during periods when the crossing is open remains insufficient to meet Gaza’s medical needs.
In earlier press remarks, Al-Nims explained that patients are selected for travel through coordination between the Palestinian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization, based on the severity of their conditions, beginning with the most critical cases.
“Engineered starvation”
In a related development, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said Israel continues to tighten its blockade on the Gaza Strip by closing crossings and controlling the entry of humanitarian aid and the number of people allowed to travel through Rafah.
Qassem said in earlier remarks that Israel had closed the Rafah crossing while continuing to severely restrict the entry of humanitarian aid.
He said Israel had failed to allow in the agreed number of aid trucks, permitting fewer than half of them to enter, while also controlling the number of people allowed to travel.
Qassem accused Israel of pursuing a policy of “engineered starvation” in Gaza, pointing to rising prices of basic goods as hunger deepens and ceasefire violations continue through bombardment and killings, including attacks carried out earlier that day.
He said the situation reflects a systematic Israeli policy of violations that requires a serious response from mediators, guarantor states and the so-called Board of Peace to bring the violations to an end and lift the blockade on Gaza after two years of genocide.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director general of Gaza’s Government Media Office, also said the humanitarian crisis in the Strip has reached unprecedented levels amid the continued closure of border crossings, particularly Rafah.
