Several lawmakers have called on the Trump administration to expedite medical evacuations out of Gaza amid a lack of services.
Posted on: June 11, 2026
More than 60 U.S. members of Congress have called on Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian cancer patients in the Gaza Strip so they can receive treatment in hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Fifty-one House members and 11 senators signed Thursday’s letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. These include Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Madeleine Dean and Greg Casar.
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The letter urges the Donald Trump administration to expedite the medical evacuation of children with cancer and their caregivers and obtain guarantees from Israel for their return to Gaza.
“There is no reason to think it would be controversial to allow children with cancer to drive 40 minutes to get life-saving treatment,” said Deyar Jamil, a researcher at human rights group DAWN, who helped write the letter.
“Such brutality would not be possible without political cover-up in the United States, and we thank our lawmakers for demanding it stop.”
Extinct health care system
The United Nations estimates that about 11,000 cancer patients are currently living in the Gaza Strip, where they cannot receive appropriate treatment due to Israel’s systematic destruction of the health care system.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 94% of hospitals in the Gaza Strip were destroyed or damaged during Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian territories that began in October 2023.
For example, the Israeli army destroyed t.The only Türkiye-Palestine Friendship Hospital Cancer specialty facility On the strip in March 2025.
“A cancer diagnosis is a death sentence in Gaza. Doctors estimate cancer deaths have tripled since October 2023,” Thursday’s letter said.
It is claimed that the limited medical evacuation allowed by Israeli authorities fell far short of patients’ needs.
According to the United Nations, at least 1,200 people died in Gaza while awaiting approval to evacuate, including Ghazal, a 6-year-old boy with leukemia who spent the last two months of his life waiting for permission to leave.
WHO suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt after Israeli forces shot and killed a medical contractor in April.
Despite a ceasefire agreement that came into effect in October 2025, the Israeli military has continued to carry out airstrikes across the Gaza Strip and restrict the flow of humanitarian aid.
Throughout the war, Israeli forces have faced accusations of deliberately targeting medical personnel and systematically destroying medical facilities across the Gaza Strip.
Even before the war, Israel maintained strict controls on who could enter and exit the Gaza Strip. Since October 2023, the country has rejected most requests for medical evacuation, citing “security concerns.”
Thursday’s letter proposed the establishment of a medical corridor that would allow necessary travel out of Gaza and connect the strip to other parts of the Palestinian territories.
Medical facilities in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are prepared to receive patients from the Gaza Strip and provide services such as radiotherapy, he said, noting that the Augusta Victoria Hospital and the Patriarch and Church Heads of Jerusalem will cover all associated costs.
The letter also asks for assurances that Palestinians will be able to rebuild medical facilities in Gaza without further destruction. However, they emphasize that cancer patients must be evacuated immediately so that they can receive life-saving treatment.
“The only obstacle between these patients and the care they desperately need is the Israeli government approving their evacuation request,” the letter states.
