The head of the UN’s World Health Organisation has said thousands of Palestinians need “urgent specialised medical care” that they can only receive outside the Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reports.

Posting to social media, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the scheduled medical evacuation of 50 patients from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing later today, but said this was only a start.

“This will be the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire began, and the first time through Rafah since its closure in May 2024,” Tedros said.

“Still, from 12,000 to 14,000 people still require urgent specialised medical care outside Gaza,” he said.

“We continue to call for the scaling up of medical evacuations through all possible routes,” he added.