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4 months ago
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A medical source in the Egyptian city of Arish announced the evacuation of 21 cancer patients from Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing for the first time since the crossing was closed in May when the Israeli army took control of the Palestinian side of it.
"Twenty-one cancer patients arrived in Egypt via the Kerem Shalom crossing to receive treatment in the UAE," the source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP.
Negotiations to reopen the Rafah crossing, a key conduit for aid and evacuations, have repeatedly faltered.
Cairo refused to resume operations through the crossing as long as Israeli forces controlled the Palestinian side of it .
According to Mohammed Zaqout, a senior official in the Ministry of Health in Gaza, about 5,000 patients have been evacuated since the war began, but another 25,000 "still need treatment abroad."
Zaqout told reporters on Thursday, "Among these are 10,200 cancer patients, including about a thousand children, and 250 patients need to leave Gaza immediately."
The United Nations has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, whose population is suffering from famine and is being bombed, as the few remaining hospitals struggle to function and food and other necessities are increasingly difficult to obtain.
As a result of the fuel shortage, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced on Thursday that it was forced to stop more than a third of its ambulance fleet.
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