Sick Gaza children were evacuated to Egypt as part of the international effort

TEL AVIV Family members bid a tearful farewell to 21 seriously ill children who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip as part of a secret mission to get them much-needed medical help, which has been in short supply since Israelis occupied Palestinian territory.

The deal to allow the children to leave was brokered by the World Health Organization and US charities, according to a doctor involved in the operation. And it was set in motion with the help of the US government, Israel, Egypt and other countries in the region.

Many efforts were made to get these young children, many of them in desperate medical need, to several hospitals where they can receive the care they need, the White House National Security Communications Adviser , JohnKirbytold, NBC News.

Sixteen of the children are cancer patients, Kirby added.

“They're obviously in the critical stages of their treatment and they weren't able to get that life-saving, that critical medical attention that they needed for their care,” he said. “And now they will. They are there. Safely out.”

Before the Rafah crossing was closed to Egypt, the US in partnership with hospitals, various non-governmental organizations and local officials in Gaza were able to quietly move more than 150 patients, mostly children, out of the attacked territory to reach in life-saving critical care. The region.

But when Israeli military operations near Rafah forced the closure of the crossing in May, getting the sickest children out became nearly impossible.

Faced with a serious obstacle, the rescuers regrouped and found another way out.

Kirby declined to go into detail about what was done, but he said they hope to continue evacuating sick children who need emergency care in the coming months.

It's very dangerous, as you can imagine, and that's why we needed so much help, Kirby said. These children are in critical need.

He went on to explain how moving children is not a simple process because they will require medical attention while making the journey.

COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees the distribution of aid to Gaza, said in a statement that it had helped facilitate the evacuation in coordination with US government officials, Egypt and the international community.

An NBC News crew spoke with relatives of the sick youths at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis shortly before four ambulances and two buses transported them across the border into Egypt through the southern Israeli border crossing of Kerem Shalom.

Ahmed Shalha told NBC News his 5-year-old daughter, Rawand, had a brain cyst and would be treated in Egypt. He said her mother and four sisters were traveling with her.

It's very difficult, he said as he took pictures as they boarded the bus.

Another parent, Nazila Zaroud, said her 7-year-old daughter, Razan, was living with one kidney and needs treatment because she gets sick every time she eats.

“She suffers from inflammation in the lymphatic system, she has swelling, she is always sick,” she said.

Mohammad Zaqout, director of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, confirmed to reporters that the 21 children traveling to Egypt were sick with leukemia and cancer.

They are manageable if the treatment is there, he said, referring to their conditions.

But if they stayed in Gaza, he said, they would die.

In total, Zaqout said, there are 250 children who require emergency treatment for life-threatening illnesses in the territory. Another 25,000 children are being treated for a variety of war-related illnesses and injuries.

Travel in and out of Gaza has long been difficult, but became impossible after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the only one available for people to travel in or out, was closed after Israeli forces seized it during their operation in the enclave's southernmost city early last month. Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the crossing until the Gaza side returns to Palestinian control.

Eight of the evacuated children were transferred on monday to Nasser Hospital from Mamadani Hospital in northern Gaza City, Palestinian health officials told NBC News shortly after they arrived.

Aouatif Azam told NBC News that she had brought her two grandsons, Amjad and Ahmad Al Qanou, for treatment.

One has cancer, she said, adding that the other was suffering from kidney disease due to low potassium levels.

After the siege began in northern Gaza, she said she had no food at all and the family was forced to live on a few beans or chickpeas.

She added that she was grateful to the people and organizations that helped them get treatment.

Six of the other children transferred from Nasser Hospital on Thursday arrived from al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week, according to The Associated Press. Five of them had malignant cases of cancer and one suffered from metabolic syndrome, the AP reported.

The news of the evacuation was welcomed by Hanan Balkhy, WHO's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean. But in a post on X she said: More than 10,000 patients still seek medical care outside the Beltway. Of the 13,872 people who have applied for medical evacuation since October 7, only 35% have been evacuated.

Medical evacuation corridors must be urgently established for the stable, organized, safe and timely passage of critically ill patients from Gaza via all possible routes, Balkhy posted.

Henry Austin reported from Tel Aviv and Andrea Mitchell from Washington, DC