More than 60 members of the US Congress — including 51 representatives and 11 senators — signed a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on February 13, urging Israel to allow cancer patients in Gaza to access treatment at hospitals in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Among the signatories were Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Representatives Madeleine Dean and Greg Casar.
The letter asks the Trump administration to facilitate medical evacuations for children with cancer and their caregivers, while also demanding that Israel guarantee these individuals permission to return to Gaza after treatment. Deyar Jamil, a researcher at the human rights organization DAWN, which helped draft the letter, said: “There is no reason to suggest that allowing children with cancer to drive 40 minutes to be saved is controversial. Such cruelty would not be possible without political cover from the United States.”
The United Nations estimates that about 11,000 cancer patients live in Gaza, where the healthcare system has been severely destroyed. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 94% of hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged since the war began in October 2023. Israeli forces demolished the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, the only specialized cancer facility in the strip, in March 2025. The letter states: “A cancer diagnosis has become a death sentence in Gaza, with doctors estimating that cancer deaths have tripled since October 2023.”
Limited medical evacuations from Israel have not met the need. The UN says at least 1,200 people have died while awaiting evacuation approval, including a 6-year-old boy named Ghazal with leukemia, who spent his final two months hoping to leave. WHO suspended medical evacuations from Gaza to Egypt in April 2026 after a medical contractor was shot dead by Israeli forces. Although a ceasefire took effect in October 2025, Israel has continued attacks across Gaza and has restricted the flow of humanitarian aid. Throughout the war, Israel has been accused of deliberately targeting medical personnel and systematically destroying medical facilities.
The letter proposes establishing a medical corridor connecting Gaza to other parts of Palestine, noting that healthcare facilities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are ready to receive patients. Augusta Victoria Hospital and church leaders in Jerusalem have offered to cover all related costs. The letter also calls for assurances that Palestinians can rebuild medical facilities without further destruction, but stresses that the immediate priority is evacuating cancer patients for life-saving care. “The only barrier between these patients and the treatment they urgently need is the approval of the Israeli government for their evacuation requests,” the letter states.
