WHO's health supplies land in Egypt for Gaza

Cairo, Egypt – A plane carrying 78 cubic meters of health supplies from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai has landed at Al-Arish airport in Egypt.

The supplies will be delivered to Gaza to meet critical health needs as soon as humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing is established, WHO said in a statement.

Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away.

The supplies include enough trauma medicines and health supplies to treat 1,200 wounded patients and 1,500 patients suffering from heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems, and basic essential health supplies to serve the needs of 300,000 people, including pregnant women.

They also include trauma pouches with enough medicines and supplies to treat 235 wounded people. With hospitals in Gaza either nonfunctional or overwhelmed, and movement restricted due to fighting, these will enable injured people to be stabilized and receive immediate, lifesaving care anywhere it is needed.

WHO will work with the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies to ensure transportation and delivery of the supplies through Egypt and into Gaza.

On October 9, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who agreed to a WHO request to facilitate the delivery of health and other humanitarian supplies from WHO to Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

While the Egyptian side of the crossing is accessible, the Israeli side remains closed.

The critically injured, the sick, and the vulnerable cannot wait. Too many lives have already been lost. WHO joins the calls for an immediate opening of a humanitarian crossing through the Rafah border into Gaza, for the safe onward delivery of life-saving supplies to health facilities, for the delivery of fuel, water, food, and other items essential for survival, and for the protection of health care workers, patients, and civilians.