U.S. Congress Urges Israel to Permit Cancer Patients from Gaza Access to Treatment

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has asked the administration to arrange medical evacuations for Gaza’s cancer patients.

Published On 11 Jun 202611 Jun 2026

More than 60 members of Congress have written to Israel demanding that restrictions on Palestinian cancer patients in Gaza be lifted so they can receive treatment in hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The letter, signed by 51 House members and 11 Senators—including Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Madeleine Dean and Greg Casar—was addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

It calls on the Trump administration to facilitate the evacuation of child cancer patients and their caregivers and to secure Israeli guarantees that they will be allowed to return to Gaza.

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

“Such cruelty would not be possible without U.S. 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 currently reside in Gaza, where Israel’s systematic destruction of healthcare facilities has left them without adequate treatment.

World Health Organization data indicate that 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals were destroyed or damaged during the war that began in October 2023.

In March 2025, Israeli forces destroyed the Turkish‑Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only specialised cancer centre in the strip.

“Cancer diagnoses become death sentences in Gaza, where doctors estimate that cancer deaths have tripled since October 2023,” the letter notes.

Limited medical evacuations permitted by Israeli authorities have fallen far short of patients’ needs. The United Nations reports that at least 1,200 people have died in Gaza while waiting for evacuation approvals, including a six‑year‑old boy with leukaemia named Ghazal.

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

Despite a ceasefire that began in October 2025, Israeli forces continue to strike Gaza and restrict humanitarian aid. Throughout the conflict, they have faced accusations of deliberately targeting medical workers and facilities.

Even before the war, Israel maintained strict control over Gaza’s borders. Since October 2023, it has largely rejected medical evacuation requests, citing security concerns.

The letter proposes establishing a medical corridor that would connect Gaza with other parts of the Palestinian territories, allowing patients to travel for treatment.

Hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem—such as Augusta Victoria and the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches—are prepared to receive Gaza patients and have offered to cover all related expenses.

The lawmakers also call for guarantees that Palestinians will be able to rebuild Gaza’s medical infrastructure without further destruction, stressing the urgency of evacuating cancer patients to save lives.

“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.

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