Türkiye Ready to Take Cancer Patients from Shut Gaza Hospital

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, 02 November 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, 02 November 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
TT

Türkiye Ready to Take Cancer Patients from Shut Gaza Hospital

Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, 02 November 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes on the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City, 02 November 2023. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Türkiye is ready to take in cancer patients from Gaza's Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, which went out of service on Wednesday after running out of fuel, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Thursday.
Health officials said on Wednesday that the hospital, which was the only cancer treatment hospital in the Gaza Strip, had to shut down amid Israel's bombardment of the enclave.
In a statement on social messaging platform X, Koca said that if the necessary coordination was done Türkiye was ready to bring both cancer patients and others in need of emergency help to Türkiye to continue their treatment.
"As Türkiye... we are ready to provide any and all support in continuing the treatment of cancer patients who were forcibly discharged from the hospital due to a lack of resources," Koca said.
"The international community and relevant institutions have unfortunately not taken enough initiative to prevent the attacks on the hospital. Saving the lives of the patients is now a duty that cannot be escaped," he added.

Türkiye has so far sent more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid and a team of medical personnel to Egypt for Gazans, while also offering to set up a field hospital near the Rafah border crossing.



US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
TT

US Says Israel Must Improve Gaza's Humanitarian Situation or Risk Aid

 People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
People attempt to extinguish a fire at the site of an Israeli strike on tents sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Ramadan Abed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel must take urgent steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza to avoid legal action involving US military aid, according to news reports on Tuesday.

"We are writing now to underscore the US government's deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory," they wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to their Israeli counterparts, posted by an Axios reporter on X, according to Reuters.

The State Department and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Israel's government also could not be immediately reached for comment.

The report comes as Israeli forces expand operations into northern Gaza amid ongoing concerns about access to humanitarian aid throughout the enclave and civilians' access to food, water and medicine.

US officials earlier this year said Israel may have violated international humanitarian law using US-supplied weapons during its military operation in Gaza.

This week's letter cited Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act, which restricts (prohibits) military aid to countries that impede delivery of US humanitarian assistance.

It also cited a National Security Memorandum that US President Joe Biden issued in February that requires the State Department to report to Congress on whether it finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of US weapons does not violate US or international law.