EU facilitates new medical evacuation operation, the first one directly from Gaza

Brussels: The EU has coordinated the first medical evacuation operation directly from Gaza, transferring eight patients in urgent need of care to Romania, along with 24 accompanying relatives.

This is the fifth operation conducted via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, following the activation of the Mechanism by the World Health Organization (WHO) to medically evacuate Palestinian patients from Gaza to Europe.

The operation was conducted in close collaboration with Romania, WHO and Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). The patients have been safely transported to hospitals in Bucharest, where they will receive the necessary medical treatment. So far, 45 critically ill patients have been evacuated through the Mechanism overall, to Spain, Belgium and Italy.

The EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre continues to coordinate with Member States and remains committed to moving forward with additional medical evacuations.