Gaza children dying as Israel curtails medical evacuations, U.N. agencies say

By Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) -Children in Gaza are dying in pain for want of emergency treatment as a result of Israeli authorities approving fewer and fewer of them for medical evacuation following the closure of the Rafah crossing, United Nations agencies said on Friday.

Whereas before almost 300 children were being evacuated a month, that number had now declined to less than one per day, with medics waiting in vain for security approvals from Israeli authorities controlling exits from Gaza, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told a briefing in Geneva.

"As a result, children in Gaza are dying, not just from the bombs and the bullets and the shells that strike them," he said, describing several cases of children with severe, life-threatening injuries facing unexplained delays or refusals of doctors' evacuation requests.

"Even when miracles happen, even when the bombs go off and the homes collapse and the casualties mount but the child survives, they are then prevented from leaving Gaza for the urgent medical care that can save their lives."

Israeli authorities do not say when applications for medical evacuations are declined, and no explanations are given for their decisions, Elder said.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for Palestinian civilian issues including medical evacuations from Gaza, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the question of evacuations generally or the specific cases cited by UNICEF.

Among the cases described by Elder was that of Mazunia, a 12-year-old girl whose face had been blown off in a rocket strike that killed both her siblings. A medevac, needed to save her life, had repeatedly been denied, despite an offer to send her without her mother.

"This is a 12-year-old girl," Elder asid. "Now, I met Mazunia. She's incredibly brave, but of course she is in immense pain and her condition is worsening."

Four-year-old Ilya has been in hospital 43 days covered with fourth degree burns, alongside her mother who was denied evacuation and died two days ago after her own burns became infected with fungus.

Since her mother's death, Ilya was finally approved for evacuation but given no date when this might happen. Doctors have said they may have to amputate her hand and leg if she is not evacuated soon.

At current rates, it would take seven years to clear the backlog of children needing treatment, Elder added. "Trapped in the grip of an indifferent bureaucracy, children's pain is brutally compounded."

(Reporting by Thomas EscrittEditing by Miranda Murray)