MIDDLE EAST 28.12.25
Kostas Zafeiropoulos
18,500 patients await transfer from Gaza, 1,000 have died waiting... Europe looks elsewhere ● Main host countries: Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar
Only 400 patients and seriously injured individuals from Gaza have been transferred to Europe in two years ● Germany's contribution is zero, France's is negligible ● Greece opened the door for a while – and then closed it again ● For 7 months, a unanimous parliamentary decision to provide medical and hospital care to 10 more children from Gaza has not been implemented.
Photo: Little Khadler suffered from a disease called carbohydrate malabsorption syndrome from a young age. Before the war, he drank a special milk to regulate his sugar levels. For two years now, he has stopped. He developed severe problems in both his kidneys. "Many times he was ready to die in my arms. I didn't have money to call a car to take him to the hospital," says his mother, waiting for her son to be able to go abroad for treatment | Source: Doctors Without Borders (22/12/2025)
"I had gone for a visit to Deir al-Balah, it was the first time I visited the South. The airstrike hit a tent next to where I was. I was admitted to the hospital and stayed for 13 hours in surgery. They amputated my left leg. My right leg suffered complex fractures and they put an external fixator on it. I needed an incision in my neck and they gave me a tracheostomy." His name is Osama, he is in Nasser Hospital in Gaza and is one of hundreds of adolescent patients receiving support from Doctors Without Borders. He has been seriously injured twice and has two medical referrals for urgent transfer to a hospital outside the Strip. He is still waiting, trapped like thousands of others.
"Why don't they transfer us for medical care? We are all injured. All I want is to stand on my feet. I want them to give me a prosthetic limb and perform the surgeries on my other leg, so I can stand on my feet again" | Source: Doctors Without Borders (22/12/2025)
More than 18,500 patients are waiting to be transferred for medical care outside Gaza. Over a fifth of these are children. They are waiting for transfer, yet the humanity – of most European states – seems to have run dry even for them. Hundreds of critical cases are delayed or requests are rejected. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, over 1,000 patients have died waiting since July 2024. This number, Doctors Without Borders says, is likely underestimated.
On December 19, the World Health Organization (WHO) facilitated the medical transfer of 25 critically ill patients and their companions to various countries, including Belgium, Italy, Norway, and Romania. This brings the total number of patients transferred abroad since October 2023 to over 10,600, including 5,600 children.
During the first two weeks of December, at least 2,407 children were admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition. In 2025, 90,000 children diagnosed with acute malnutrition were admitted for treatment. This number is more than double the 40,000 cases recorded in 2024, despite multiple displacements and repeated interruptions of medical services caused by Israeli military operations.
Of the 10,600 patients transferred abroad, only 397 were hosted in European states. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar remain the main host countries. In contrast, Europe, with 744 million people, opened its door to only 400 Palestinian patients in two years of genocide... At the bottom of this shameful list is Germany, which took only 1 person!
In Greece, 10 patients were medically evacuated last spring, but since then not a single one has arrived. Nor is any planned for the near future. In the wider "WHO European region," Turkey, Italy, and Uzbekistan have accepted the largest number of Palestinian patients, followed by Spain and the United Kingdom. In the EU-27 until the end of October, the member states that had accepted the most were: Italy (201), Spain (65), Romania (48), France (27), and Ireland (21).
"Europe is tragically insufficient. Tragically insufficient for all the needs we have. The fact that Germany has taken no one and France, for example, has taken only 27 people is scandalous. One understands the pressure mechanisms that exist in various countries. The burden may fall on national health systems, but all this is a pretext. Europe's almost zero reflexes reveal a disheartening situation," says Christina Psarra, director of the Greek section of Doctors Without Borders, who have repeatedly appealed to the Greek government to proceed with a new round of medical evacuations in Gaza.
Reception... for a short while
The first ten and so far only patients from Gaza, all children from the WHO patient list, arrived in Greece at the end of February 2025 along with their companions (27 people in total) during the first ceasefire, following actions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Many of these children were seriously injured or had chronic diseases. Some needed reconstructive surgeries. Doctors Without Borders supports their transfers to public hospitals and other medical facilities because some of these children had a greater need for frequent medical care, while others completed an initial course of treatment earlier. Their lives were saved, but they were only 10 people.
September 3, 2025. Parliament President Nikitas Kaklamanis welcomes ten children from Palestine along with their mothers, those who survived the genocidal war | ALIKI ELEFTHERIOU/HELLENIC PARLIAMENT
On September 3, these children from Palestine visited Parliament, accompanied mainly by their mothers. "As long as you are in Greece, you are our children and you can rely on us," said Parliament President Nikitas Kaklamanis. Last May, following a unanimous decision by the Conference of Presidents, he announced to the Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Greece the Parliament's decision to provide medical and hospital care to 10 more children from Gaza, as well as to send humanitarian aid to the people of Palestine. Eight months have passed and the decision has not been implemented.
"Parliament is not the government. We did what we could. We are waiting for the decision to be implemented," sources from the Parliament's presidency told "Ef.Syn.", adding that "the diplomatic advisor to Parliament, Konstantinos Economidis, has informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accordingly. Whenever the children come to Greece, the decision will be activated."
Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "When conditions allow it, a new medical evacuation will be organized"
We also addressed a question to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received the following answer: "Minister George Gerapetritis has already announced our country's intention for additional medical evacuations of children from Gaza for hospitalization in Greece. During the visit (Monday's) to Ramallah and Israel, the facilitation of new medical evacuations of children from Gaza was discussed, and our country's will to organize new operations was expressed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in consultation with the Hellenic Parliament, and when conditions allow and all parameters for a safe operation are secured, a new medical evacuation will be organized. It is noted that a medical evacuation operation is an extremely complex process, requiring inter-state coordination, while the selection of patients is done with specific procedures and medical criteria in cooperation with the Ministry of Health in Greece and the World Health Organization, as well as other international organizations in Gaza. The selection is made from WHO patient lists and after examining medical records and other data. We cooperate directly with the WHO and other relevant organizations, without the need for intermediary organizations."
Christina Psarra, Director of Doctors Without Borders (Greece)
Christina Psarra tells us: "For me, it's positive that this door hasn't closed. The negative is that the longer we discuss it, the more lives are lost. Every day that passes, the needs grow. Because outwardly there may be this facade that 'the genocide is over, everything is fine,' but that is not the case by any stretch of the imagination. Not by any stretch of the imagination! These people will not receive the medical care they need in the foreseeable future. We are not discussing that. This is a universal human request that serves no political agenda."
She also sees the bigger picture. "If Europe wanted to do something substantial, it should have said: 'I am opening a humanitarian corridor for the eighteen thousand people who exist. And I, as Europe, call on all European members, within the next year, because these people will die, to open their hospitals. Or I create a funding framework – which, come on, what are we talking about now – and I open the humanitarian corridor as the European Union for Gaza.'"
Italy: Did the minimum that was impossible for others
Italy is the country that has offered more than any other in Europe. It continues to carry out regular medical transfers for civilian patients, mainly children who have been seriously injured or suffer from severe diseases. According to official data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, updated after the most recent missions in November and December 2025, Italy has so far welcomed more than 230 children from Gaza along with their families and accompanying relatives. In total, over 840 people have arrived in Italy through medical and humanitarian transports. The latest group of patients, who arrived by plane on December 8, included 17 children with severe injuries or complex pathologies, many of whom were amputees, accompanied by 63 family members.
These evacuations are the result of a coordinated institutional effort involving the Prime Minister's office, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Interior, as well as the Civil Protection Agency in cooperation with the World Health Organization. Military aircraft transported the patients to Italian airports, such as Rome's Ciampino, Milan's Linate, Pisa, and Pratica di Mare, from where they were transferred to hospitals across the country. The children and their families received treatment in more than twenty hospitals in Regions such as Lombardy, Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, etc.
Beyond the technical issues, these missions carry deeply personal stories. One of the most well-known cases is that of Adam, a young boy who survived a bombing in Gaza, was transferred to Milan for specialized treatment, and became a symbol of the humanitarian corridor opened by Italy for the most vulnerable victims of the conflict. Hospital doctors have described patients who arrived with injuries that had not been treated for months, requiring long and complex rehabilitation programs.
However, criticism of the Italian government is not lacking. Humanitarian organizations and parts of civil society have repeatedly called on the government to increase the number and speed of medical transfers, warning that Gaza's health system has collapsed and thousands of patients remain without access to life-saving medical care.
Several hospitals participating in the program, including leading pediatric and trauma centers, have expressed their willingness to accept additional patients provided that transfers become more regular and better planned. Medical staff emphasize that the Italian health system has the capacity to handle many more cases.
Spain: Institutional response, continuing need
On September 9, the Spanish government approved in cabinet an emergency declaration authorizing the provision of services and the supply of essential goods to assist individuals – especially children – originating from the armed conflict in Gaza. The decision issued by the Ministry of Migration was the fourth in a series. The actions included in this emergency declaration cover transportation services, temporary housing, meals, and other basic needs, such as social support and guidance, psychological and legal assistance, as well as translation and interpretation services.
Ireland: Did what it promised
Ireland has committed to hosting 30 seriously injured children from Gaza and has so far hosted 20 along with 83 caregivers and family members. The agreement to evacuate up to 30 pediatric patients from Gaza was concluded in September 2024 in response to a request from the World Health Organization (WHO) to activate the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) to meet the health needs of Gaza residents.
The first group of children who received medical care in Ireland arrived in December 2024: eight children were transferred to Dublin accompanied by eight caregivers and eleven siblings. The group traveled by plane provided by the Slovak government and was accompanied by three doctors from the Health Service Executive (HSE) and an interpreter. The second group arrived in May 2025, when four children traveled from Egypt by plane provided by the Norwegian government and were accompanied by two doctors and two nurses from Children's Health Ireland, three social workers from the Irish Red Cross, and an interpreter.
In July, a government decision facilitated a new medical transfer to the country via Jordan, and in October, seven children arrived in Ireland with 29 accompanying family members. Patients are selected by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Children's Health Ireland (CHI) from the WHO-approved list for medical transfer. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the medical selection process is guided from the outset by health needs, prioritizing cases of cancer, dialysis, and other serious conditions.
Romania: Ten missions, dozens of lives saved
"As of September 30, 2024, we have carried out 10 missions and transferred 108 patients and 271 companions. Of these, we have kept 52 patients and 136 companions in Romania. We know that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean and it is not enough," said Raed Arafat, coordinator of the Emergency Department, in a Wall Street Journal documentary on November 13.
On December 8, a Romanian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft carried out another medical transfer mission for eight more Palestinian patients from the Gaza Strip, who had been severely affected by the lack of access to adequate medical care, along with 29 of their relatives.
The mission was carried out following requests received from the European Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) within the framework of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
"I don't want to lose another child"
"I don't want to lose another child." A mother, who lost her daughter, with her three children suffering from malnutrition and needing transfer outside the Gaza Strip | Source: Doctors Without Borders (22/12/2025)
"I have three children who need medical care abroad," says little Quasem's mother. "I have arranged medical transfers for them. One of my daughters died from the same disease that the other three have. This is also due to the lack of treatment. Although things were better before the war, there was always a shortage of medicines in Gaza."
She is from Rafah, was displaced to Al-Mawasi, in Khan Younis, and is now fighting not to lose another child. "Sometimes I find it difficult to get to the hospital, especially at night, if one of my children has an asthma attack, I don't know how to react. Once I left at one in the morning, carrying them, running towards the hospital. It's a long distance. Quasem has acute malnutrition. His health was better before the period of hunger. Then he started losing weight. He started swelling, his hands swelled, his feet swelled, and his face swelled. He couldn't breathe, he turned blue.
I was shocked that he reached this stage, just like his sister. We didn't manage to save her. She had liver failure due to a lack of protein and died. Two months ago, tanks invaded our area. Suddenly, everyone started running. We left. I didn't even manage to take the nebulizer, the device for my sick children. I couldn't find it. After the Israelis withdrew and we returned to check our tents, we found nothing. The nebulizer was broken. The medicines my son takes, his vitamins and proteins, everything was lost. Nothing, nothing, we found nothing."
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