68 sick and injured children plus companions leave Gaza in first medical evacuation since May

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli authorities say 68 sick and injured children and their companions have been allowed out of the Gaza Strip and into Egypt in the first medical evacuation since May, when the territory’s sole travel crossing was shut down.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs, said Thursday that the evacuation was carried out in coordination with officials from the United States, Egypt and the international community.

The children and their companions left the Gaza Strip via the Kerem Shalom crossing, and the patients were to travel to Egypt and further abroad for medical treatment.

The nearly nine-month Israel-Hamas war has devastated Gaza’s health sector and forced most of its hospitals to shut down. Health officials say thousands of people need medical treatment abroad, including hundreds of urgent cases.

Family members earlier bade a tearful goodbye to the children as they and their escorts left the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis bound for the Kerem Shalom cargo crossing with Israel.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one available for people to travel in or out, shut down after Israeli forces captured it during their operation in the city early last month. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side is returned to Palestinian control.

Six of the children were transferred to the Nasser Hospital from Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week. Five have malignant cases of cancer and one suffers from metabolic syndrome. That...