The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
‘We need all routes to open’: in Gaza WHO calls for ramp-up of medevacs, easier access for essentials
Two weeks since a ceasefire agreement entered into force in Gaza the World Health Organization (WHO) noted progress on the flow of aid while calling for more evacuations of critical patients and eased entry for essential medicines and supplies.
Speaking from Jerusalem on Friday, WHO’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, said that while the agency has been rapidly scaling up its operations, more access routes into the enclave are needed.
“Opening up all the crossings is critical and even more so to get diverse food, shelter and all shelter-related items with the winter approaching,” he said, briefing reporters in Geneva.
Only the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings in the southern half of the Strip are open. Dr. Peeperkorn reiterated recent calls from humanitarians to open the Rafah crossing for people and goods, as well as Zikim and Erez crossings, as their closure limits direct access to the famine-stricken north, “making it difficult to deliver critical support… to health facilities on the scale required”.
The WHO representative highlighted the devastation of Gaza’s health system following two years of a brutal war and underscored the urgent need for more hospital capacity, currently limited to some 2,100 inpatient beds across for a population of 2.1 million.
Several major health facilities including Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, Indonesian and European Gaza Hospital lie beyond the “yellow line” to which Israeli forces withdrew earlier this month as part of the first stage of the US-driven peace plan for Gaza, making them “inaccessible for people and non-functional”, Dr. Peeperkorn said.
More than 170,000 people have been injured over the course of the conflict and lives are on the line as many critical patients are unable to access treatment within the enclave. Dr. Peeperkorn said that on Thursday WHO carried out the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire, of 41 patients and 145 companions, to various countries.
The agency aims to scale up medical evacuations to a minimum of 50 patients per day plus companions, in line with the previous ceasefire.
“All medical corridors need to be opened,” Dr. Peeperkorn insisted, as some 15,000 people including almost 4,000 children are in need of medical evacuation. “The most important one would be the reopening of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem referral hospitals... It is vital and it's the most cost-effective route.”
The WHO representative added that the reopening of this route would be a “game changer”. He also called for the reopening of Rafah crossing for daily medical evacuations into Egypt while also “continuing regular medevacs through Kerem Shalom to Ramon Airport [in Israel] and Jordan”.
“The other key ask is that we need more countries to step forward to receive patients,” Dr. Peeperkorn said. “For next week, we have two medevac plans, but… we want to be able to do medevacs every day.”
Asked about his impressions following the first meetings earlier this week of the Civil-Military Coordination Centre set up by the US to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire, the UN health agency representative said that he wants to be “hopeful”.
The meetings brought together Israeli authorities and the UN and partners. Dr. Peeperkorn said that the new mechanism should facilitate the rapid entry of aid and also, in the future, of “massive supplies for recovery and reconstruction”.
On Thursday the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Ramiz Alakbarov, told the Security Council that the UN is “closely engaging in all relevant coordination mechanisms” and welcomed efforts to facilitate a scaling up of assistance, including through the new Centre.
WHO’s Dr. Peeperkorn highlighted the most urgent improvements to be made and described concrete steps to shorten approval delays for Gaza-bound relief items.
“We made a consolidated list of essential medicines and medical supplies… priority items which are used in every hospital around the world,” he said. “We want to get a kind of a blanket approval for that list… that would help a lot.”
Dr. Peeperkorn also expressed hope for a “completely different approach” towards so-called dual-use items, the entry of which is restricted due to concerns around potential military applications.
“We need CT scans in, we need spare parts in, we need MRIs in, we need X-rays in, we need ultrasounds in,” he said. “All of that has been consistently delayed or has been made very difficult... I do expect with the Civil-Military Coordination Centre that this will be facilitated in the future,” he explained.
“We all know that this will be a long and winding road, with a lot of setbacks and obstructions,” the UN health agency representative said. “But we can only be hopeful that this ceasefire will hold, that we go to peace and we get to a proper political solution.”
-ENDS -
STORY Gaza health update - WHO
TRT: 2:45”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 24 OCTOBER 2025 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior wide shot: Palais des Nations, Flag Alley.
2. Wide shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
3. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “Opening up all the crossings is critical and even more so to get diverse food, shelter and all shelter-related items with the winter approaching.”
4. Medium shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
5. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “Currently, the Kerem Shalom and Kissufim crossings are open and allowing more supplies to flow into Gaza. However, Rafah crossing for people and goods is still not open and Zikim and Erez crossing also remain closed, limiting direct access to the north and making it difficult to deliver critical support for us to health facilities on the scale required.”
6. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
7. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “Several key facilities that lie beyond the so-called ceasefire, this yellow line where everybody is discussing, including Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, Indonesian, European Gaza Hospital are inaccessible for people and non-functional.”
8. Wide shot: Speaker on screens; journalists in the Press room.
9. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “Around 15,000 plus people, of which almost 4,000 children, need medical evacuation. So our key asks are very clear on this on this file. First, all medical corridors need to be opened. The most important one would be the reopening of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem referral hospitals and referral route. It is vital and it's the most cost-effective route. If that route opens, it would really be a little game changer.”
10. Medium shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
11. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “The other key ask is that we need more countries to step forward to receive patients. For next week, we have two medevac plans, but as I stated before, we want to be able to do medevacs every day.”
12. Medium shot: Journalist in the Press room.
13. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “We made a consolidated list of essential medicines and medical supplies and consumables, which are absolutely priority items and which are used in every hospital around the world, and we want to get a kind of a blanket approval for that list. That's the first, that would help a lot.”
14. Medium shot: Speaker at the podium of the press conference; speaker on screens.
15. SOUNDBITE (English) – Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory, World Health Organization (WHO): “We all know that this will be a long and winding road, with a lot of setbacks and obstructions, etcetera. But we can only be hopeful that this ceasefire will hold, that we go to peace and we get to a proper political solution.”
16. Various shots of journalists in the Press room.
Similar Stories
1
6
1
1
Edited News | UNOG
In a new twist on panda diplomacy, UN Geneva welcomed five young peacocks to the Palace of Nations on Friday, a gift of India that preserves a tradition of keeping the stately birds in the grounds, that predates both the global body and its ill-fated predecessor, the League of Nations.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
Afghanistan’s hunger crisis intensifies as millions go without food aid – WFP
Afghanistan’s dire hunger crisis now affects 14 million people including babies fed on weak tea and a little bread by their despairing and dirt-poor parents.
In a new alert on Tuesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that one in three Afghans is now in the grip of acute food insecurity and that it lacks the resources to contain the deepening crisis.
1
1
2
Edited News | IOM
From fake jobs to forced crime: IOM sounds alarm on human trafficking behind online scams
A job offer can conceal a criminal network and a single click can lead to a nightmare. Lured by false promises of legitimate employment abroad, hundreds of thousands of people are being trafficked each year, held captive and forced to carry out online scams.
Ahead of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons marked on 30 July, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is raising the alarm over a rapidly expanding multibillion-dollar criminal industry that turns job seekers into victims of forced cybercrime.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
In Sudan’s El Obeid, women risk drone attacks by day and rape by night to access water
As war intensifies in the city of El Obeid in North Kordofan state, filling up a jerrycan of water comes at a high risk for women and girls: by day, drones strike water points and by night, women who venture out to fill a bucket risk rape. UN Women warns of a dual terror that has turned access to water into a deadly gamble.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokesperson Shabia Mantoo made the following remarks on stranded Hormuz seafarers abandoned for months at sea, at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, Thameen Al-Kheetan, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Danielle Bell, head of UN Human Rights’ Ukraine team, spoke of the deepening impact of the war on the civilian population.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan made the following remarks Intensified Israeli attacks in Gaza.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
DR Congo: Ebola outbreak continues to expand, WHO sees signs of stabilization
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN health teams and partners are still racing to contain the rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak, despite ongoing insecurity in eastern areas where the virus has taken hold. As of 19 July, the DRC Government has recorded 2,423 confirmed cases, including 967 deaths and 469 patient recoveries.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights spokeperson Jeremy Laurence appealed for calm in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir amid a wave of unrest ahead of regional elections at the end of the month.
1
1
1
Edited News | WFP
UN humanitarians working in war-torn Sudan warned on Friday of growing dramatic needs among the more than 100,000 displaced people now sheltering in camps in the city of El Obeid. "We are providing even not the full food ration to the people, but even that reduced food ration is being shared by the recipients with other families, because they know that they don't have any other source of income," said World Food Programme (WFP) Sudan Country Director Abdallah Alwardat.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
‘This is a fire’: DRC Ebola outbreak is fastest-growing ever, warns WHO
Infections of the Bundibugyo species of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have reached record highs and a majority of new cases are coming from “unknown chains of transmission”, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
In war-torn Sudan, a deadly new cholera outbreak has already claimed more than 100 lives, heightening serious concerns for vulnerable communities including in besieged El-Obeid, where daily drone attacks reportedly continue to hamper aid access.