Thousands of patients in the Gaza Strip remain stranded and waiting for medical treatment outside the enclave despite a cease-fire, as evacuations continue only a few times a week, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said 12,913 patients, including 6,186 children, have been medically evacuated from Gaza since October 2023, accompanied by about 16,000 family members or other companions.
The pace of evacuations remains limited. Jasarevic said 101 patients and 164 companions were evacuated during the week of Aug. 2-8, with medical transfers currently taking place three to four times a week.
"Thousands of patients are still awaiting medical evacuation," Jasarevic said in a written response to Anadolu Agency (AA).
The continuing backlog highlights the strain on Gaza's health system, which has been devastated by the war and faces shortages of medical supplies, damaged facilities and limited access to specialized treatment.
Gaza's Health Ministry has said Israeli attacks have killed 1,258 people and wounded 4,145 since the cease-fire took effect Oct. 10, 2025.
The ministry says the overall Palestinian death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023 has reached 73,386, with 174,256 people wounded.
The humanitarian crisis meanwhile comes as violence has also intensified in the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army demolished the home of a Palestinian involved in a deadly confrontation nearly three weeks ago.
Video footage released Tuesday showed the three-story home in the village of Tell, near Nablus, being destroyed in a controlled explosion. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the demolition.
The homeowner was killed during confrontations involving Israeli settlers and soldiers last month. The Israeli military said he had seized a weapon from a security officer and opened fire on Israelis.
An Israeli officer and a member of the civil defense force were killed in the confrontation. The Palestinian Health Ministry said four Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers during the incident.
The demolition is part of a broader pattern of heightened violence in the West Bank since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, incursion into southern Israel, triggering the Gaza genocide.
More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since then during Israeli military operations, armed clashes and other violence, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have also increased sharply during the same period.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has accused Israel's government and military of enabling the violence through political support, protection and what it described as "complete impunity" for settlers.
Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. About 700,000 Israeli settlers now live in the territories alongside roughly 3 million Palestinians.
The Palestinians seek the West Bank and East Jerusalem as part of an independent state, while Israel rejects that claim and maintains control over the territories.
