WHO evacuates 55 patients from Gaza to UAE
Stay tuned with 24 News HD Android App
The World Health Organization said 55 patients and 72 caregivers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday for specialised medical treatment.
"Patients included those suffering from autoimmune and blood diseases, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, eye and renal issues, trauma injuries, neurological disorder, and skin diseases," the WHO said.
"More than 12,000 patients still need medical evacuation outside Gaza," the UN health agency added.
Meanwhile, Israel's military said two projectiles were fired from Gaza on Wednesday in the first minutes of the new year, one of which was intercepted while the other landed in an open area.
Alert sirens sounded around midnight (2200 GMT) in the western Negev, the Israeli military said, and "two projectiles were identified crossing from the central Gaza Strip into Israeli territory".
"One projectile was successfully intercepted and the second projectile fell in an open area," the army said on Telegram.
The military said it has intercepted several rockets fired from northern Gaza in recent days.
Since October, Israeli operations in Gaza have focused on the north, with officials saying their land and air offensive aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,208 deaths -- mostly civilians -- according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 45,500 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
The UN considers those figures reliable.