Urgent plea for South Africa's help in medical evacuations from Gaza amid fragile ceasefire

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is calling for South Africa and other countries to help boost the number of urgent medical evacuations from Gaza.

With facilities that once served as the backbone of the strife-torn coastal Palestinian enclave destroyed over the past two years of war, patients with serious trauma-related injuries or other life-threatening conditions face the “same impossible reality” as before the ceasefire, the organisation said in a statement.

It said it understands that South Africa’s health system is under strain — many countries are facing similar challenges. However, “exceptional crises call for exceptional solidarity”.

“For many patients, medical evacuation is a matter of survival. As of October 2025, more than 15,600 patients, including about 25 percent (3,800) children, are officially registered with WHO for evacuation.”

According to an MSF communications officer, South Africa has not yet evacuated any Gaza patient.

Saving Lives

MSF said helping to urgently increase the number of medical rescues would also help reduce pressure on Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“The focus must be on saving lives, prioritising those facing immediate, life-threatening conditions, in line with international medical and humanitarian standards. This must include accepting adults and the elderly, who make up 75 per cent of the waiting list,” the global medical assistance organisation said.

Emphasising that the ceasefire that is a couple of weeks old is not the end of the extreme suffering in Gaza, MSF said Palestinians still need “immediate” aid and medical evacuations.

It said these evacuations have to be accompanied by sustained efforts to maintain the fragile ceasefire and ensure a “massive, unrestricted” influx of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, International President of MSF and an emergency doctor who has worked in Gaza, said Palestinians in Gaza were enduring extreme hardship and the health system lies in ruins. “Israeli forces attacked hospitals, reducing them to rubble; killed, detained and forcibly displaced medical staff; and systematically blocked supplies from entering the Strip.”

As of this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) reports that over 15,600 people – one in four of whom are children – were awaiting lifesaving medical evacuation from Gaza. Patients include those with complex trauma injuries caused by bullets and bombs, or life-threatening and chronic conditions such as cancer or kidney failure.