Up to 10 Palestinians are dying every day in Gaza due to severe Israeli restrictions that prevent them from accessing urgent medical care abroad, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Zaher al-Wahidi, the director of the ministry's information department, said on Monday that "every day, between six and 10 patients who are waiting to travel abroad for treatment die".
He said there were at least 195 cases classified as life-threatening and warned that if they were not evacuated within the next few hours, their lives could be at risk.
There are 1,971 other emergency cases that need to be evacuated within weeks, or they could reach critical levels amid their deteriorating conditions.
Among these cases are 4,000 children and another 4,000 cancer patients.
Medical evacuations out of Gaza have long been a difficult trial for thousands of Palestinians with Israel's years-long siege on the territory.
Since the start of Israel's genocidal war on the strip, these limitations have only increased, especially with Israeli forces occupying the Rafah crossing and its surroundings.