AFP – Up to 1,000 women and children needing medical care will shortly be evacuated from Gaza to Europe, the head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Europe branch said in comments published yesterday.
Hans Kluge said the evacuations would be facilitated by the WHO – the United Nations’ (UN) health agency – and the European countries involved.
On Thursday, UN investigators said Israel was deliberately targeting health facilities in Gaza, and killing and torturing medical personnel there, accusing the country of “crimes against humanity”.
WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian territories Rik Peeperkorn said in May that around 10,000 people needed evacuating from Gaza for urgent medical care.
The WHO Europe has already facilitated 600 medical evacuations from Gaza to seven European countries since the latest war began there in October 2023.
“This would never have happened if we did not keep the dialogue (open),” Kluge said.
“The most important medicine is peace,” he said, noting that healthcare workers had to be allowed to do their jobs in conflict zones.
“There may be a kind of acceptance almost but this should cause outrage every single time,” he said.
Despite strains on Europe’s healthcare systems, he said the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region – which includes central Asian countries – were able to come together to prepare for future pandemics. “In Europe, we did our homework,” he said.
“What we need is a pandemic treaty globally, because even if we do our share, we’re never going to stop bugs entering our continent.”
A European strategy for pandemics is due to be presented on October 31. At the same time, the WHO is urging its members to “manage and prepare for the next crisis, while ensuring continuation of essential basic health services” in order to avoid another “rupture” like that which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ensuring the security of national health care systems is crucial and should be a priority, he said.
“A minimum of 25 out of 53 countries during the past five years had at least one big health emergency event big enough to test the country’s security,” he said.
