US lawmakers urge Israel to allow Gaza cancer patients to seek care

More than 60 members of the US Congress are urging the Trump administration to press Israel to let Palestinian cancer patients leave Gaza for treatment. The request focuses on children and their caregivers, and seeks guarantees that evacuated patients can return to Gaza.

In a letter sent Thursday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, 51 members of the House and 11 senators called for medical transfers to hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. The signatories include Senators Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Madeleine Dean and Greg Casar.

The lawmakers asked President Donald Trump’s administration to help arrange evacuations for child cancer patients and their caretakers. They also called for US efforts to secure Israeli assurances that patients will not be barred from going home after receiving care.

Deyar Jamil, a fellow at the human rights group DAWN, which helped prepare the letter, said children with cancer should be able to make the short trip to treatment. Jamil said US political backing has helped allow the restrictions to continue, and praised members of Congress for challenging them.

Gaza cancer patients face collapsing care

The United Nations estimates that about 11,000 cancer patients are in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, 94 percent of Gaza’s hospitals have been damaged or destroyed during the war that began in October 2023.

The lawmakers’ letter says Gaza’s doctors estimate that cancer deaths have tripled since October 2023. It says the territory’s health system cannot provide the level of treatment many patients need, including radiation therapy.

Israeli forces destroyed the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, Gaza’s only specialized cancer hospital, in March 2025, according to the account cited by the lawmakers. The letter says the limited medical evacuations Israel has allowed have not met the scale of need.

The UN says at least 1,200 people in Gaza have died while waiting for approval to leave for medical treatment. The letter names one of them as Ghazal, a six-year-old boy with leukaemia who spent the final two months of his life waiting for permission to be evacuated.

The WHO suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt in April after Israeli forces shot and killed a medical contractor, according to the organization. The suspension further reduced options for patients seeking care outside the enclave.

Lawmakers seek a medical corridor

The letter proposes a medical corridor linking Gaza with other parts of the Palestinian territory. It says hospitals in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are ready to receive patients from Gaza and provide services such as radiation treatment.

According to the letter, Augusta Victoria Hospital and the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have offered to cover the related costs. The lawmakers said Israeli approval remains the barrier between patients and treatment.

Israel tightly controlled movement into and out of Gaza before the war. Since October 2023, Israel has largely denied medical evacuation requests while citing security concerns, according to the lawmakers’ letter.

A ceasefire agreement took effect in October 2025, but Israeli forces have continued strikes in Gaza and restrictions on humanitarian aid, according to the account cited in the letter. Israeli forces have also faced allegations throughout the war of targeting medical workers and destroying health facilities.

The lawmakers also asked for assurances that Palestinians can rebuild Gaza’s medical system without further destruction. Their immediate demand, however, is for Israel to approve evacuations so cancer patients can reach hospitals equipped to treat them.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.