They’re among the most weak in Gaza.

The youngest shouldn’t be even a yr outdated; the oldest is 14. All are battling lymphoma, leukemia and tumors that docs mentioned might kill them if left untreated.

Over the previous 10 days, 21 youngsters with most cancers have been evacuated from Gaza to hospitals in Egypt and Jordan, in accordance with docs concerned within the effort. However at the least 30 different younger most cancers sufferers haven’t made it out, and assist employees mentioned that within the chaos of battle, they will not attain among the households.

“That is catastrophic,” mentioned Dr. Bakr Gaoud, the pinnacle of Al-Rantisi Specialised Hospital for Youngsters, which was the one medical heart with a pediatric most cancers ward in Gaza till it was compelled to close down on Friday throughout heavy combating. Even earlier than the hospital closed, critically ailing sufferers had been being despatched house by violent streets or transferred to Al-Shifa, a close-by hospital that’s below siege by Israeli forces.

Hospitals have turn into a specific flash level within the battle as Israel has accused Hamas of turning medical services, together with Al-Rantisi and Al-Shifa, into secure homes and command facilities. Hamas and hospital officers have denied the allegations.

The hassle to evacuate youngsters with most cancers started in mid-October and required negotiations among the many White Home, Egypt, Israel and Palestinian well being officers in Gaza, which is managed by Hamas.

However these concerned within the evacuation mentioned it has proceeded fitfully.

Assist employees and docs, who spoke on situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the efforts, described frantic households who misplaced their cell service and missed the precise days when their youngsters had been given permission to cross into Egypt. Some waited for hours for ambulances that by no means made it to a gathering level.

One household arrived on the border solely to find that their little one had been accepted to cross, however the mother or father’s identify had been inexplicably left off the checklist.

The youngsters’s plight is a microcosm of the struggling in Gaza for the reason that battle started simply over a month in the past, after Hamas launched a shock assault that Israeli authorities say killed 1,200 individuals. Israel’s retaliation has killed greater than 11,000 individuals, together with greater than 4,500 youngsters, in accordance with well being officers in Gaza.

Many of the youngsters with most cancers had been being handled at Al-Rantisi, which had 35 inpatient pediatric most cancers sufferers as of two weeks in the past, Dr. Gaoud mentioned. However as shells hit the hospital’s water tanks and energy system over the previous week, it started to empty out.

On Friday, Dr. Gaoud mentioned, Al-Rantisi was compelled to close down totally, with employees members dragging some sufferers outdoors of their beds to attend for ambulances. Israeli troopers offered a map of what they mentioned was a secure route by the combating.

The youngsters got one final dose of chemotherapy earlier than they left. With out additional care, Dr. Gaoud mentioned, “their circumstances will deteriorate.”

The emergency effort to evacuate the sufferers was organized by the World Well being Group and St. Jude Youngsters’s Analysis Hospital, which had been concerned in build up providers at Al-Rantisi.

The organizations created a registry of youngsters to be moved, with cellphone numbers for his or her kinfolk. St. Jude additionally promised to arrange their transport into Egypt and guarantee their medical care.

However the names of the kids needed to be added to a every day checklist of these accepted to go by the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, which was no easy activity. Greater than two weeks handed with no evacuations.