Israeli authorities prevented 763 Palestinian patients from leaving the occupied Gaza Strip for medical treatment in September, reported the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Some 668 patient applications to travel through the Israeli-controlled Erez crossing were delayed, “receiving no definitive response to their application by the date of their hospital appointment”, said the WHO.

Of these, 161 applications were for children under the age of 18 and 71 applications were for patients aged 60 years or older.

Meanwhile, 95 patient applications were explicitly denied permission to cross Erez for health care in September, including seven children and 14 patients aged 60 years or older.

Health ministry: Gaza suffering severe medicine crisis

Eighteen per cent of denied applications were for appointments in neurosurgery, 17 per cent for ophthalmology, 17 per cent for orthopaedics, and 12 per cent for cancer treatment and investigation.

More than 90 per cent of denied permit applications “were for appointments at hospitals in East Jerusalem or the West Bank”, noted the WHO.

The report notes that 18 applications in September were for permits for those injured during Great March of Return demonstrations – only one of which was approved (one denied, 16 delayed).

Medicine shortage risks lives of thousands of patients in Gaza