US lawmakers press Israel to let cancer patients out of Gaza for treatment

More than 60 members of the United States Congress have called on Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian cancer patients in Gaza so that they may seek treatment in hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Fifty-one members of the House of Representatives and 11 members of the Senate signed Thursday’s letter, addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They include Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Madeleine Dean and Greg Casar.

The letter calls on the administration of President Donald Trump to facilitate the medical evacuation of child cancer patients and their caretakers, as well as obtain Israeli guarantees that they will be allowed to return to Gaza.

“There is no conceivable reason that allowing kids with cancer to drive 40 minutes for lifesaving medical treatment should be controversial,” said Deyar Jamil, a fellow at the human rights group DAWN, which helped craft the letter.

“Such cruelty would not be possible without US political cover and we are grateful for the members of Congress who are demanding an end to it.”

Decimated health system

The United Nations estimates that about 11,000 cancer patients are currently living in Gaza, where Israel’s systematic destruction of the healthcare system has left them unable to obtain adequate treatment.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals were destroyed or damaged during Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territory, which began in October 2023.

Israeli forces, for instance, destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the sole specialised cancer facility in the strip, in March 2025.

“Cancer diagnoses become death sentences in Gaza, where doctors estimate that cancer deaths have tripled since October 2023,” Thursday’s letter reads.

It argues that the limited medical evacuations permitted by Israeli authorities have fallen far short of patients’ needs.

According to the United Nations, at least 1,200 people have died in Gaza while waiting for evacuation approvals, including a six-year-old boy with leukaemia named Ghazal, who spent the last two months of his life hoping for permission to leave.

The WHO suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt in April after Israeli forces shot and killed a medical contractor.

Despite a ceasefire agreement that took effect in October 2025, Israeli forces have continued to carry out strikes across Gaza and restrict the flow of humanitarian assistance.

Throughout the war, Israeli forces have faced allegations of intentionally targeting medical workers and systematically destroying medical facilities across Gaza.

Even before the war, Israel maintained strict control over who was allowed to enter and exit Gaza. Since October 2023, the country has largely rejected medical evacuation requests, citing “security concerns”.

Thursday’s letter proposes the establishment of a medical corridor to allow necessary travel out of Gaza, connecting the strip to other parts of the Palestinian territory.

It notes that medical facilities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are prepared to receive patients from Gaza and offer services such as radiation treatment, with Augusta Victoria Hospital and Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem offering to cover all relevant expenses.

The letter also calls for assurances that Palestinians will be able to rebuild Gaza’s medical facilities without further destruction. But it emphasises the need to evacuate cancer patients immediately to ensure they receive life-saving treatment.

“The only obstacle between these patients and the treatment they desperately need is the Israeli government’s approval of their evacuation requests,” the letter states.