Turkey takes in 27 from Gaza, including cancer patients, for treatment

Twenty-seven patients from Gaza and their 13 attendants, who passed through the Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, arrived in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Thursday.

"Twenty-seven patients from Gaza, most of whom are cancer patients who need urgent treatment, are in our country," Turkish health minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters at the airport in Ankara.

"We established a health coordination team consisting of technical committees to bring patients to our country, especially cancer patients," the minister said.

Turkey has delivered aid to Gaza, including medications, medical supplies and devices to meet the needs of the people in Gaza, Xinhua news agency quoted Koca as saying further.

The planes, departing from Egypt's El Arish Airport, landed at Ankara Esenboga Airport at midnight.

Koca traveled to Ankara from Egypt with some patients, the state-run Anadolu agency reported.

These patients would be the first Gazans to travel from Egypt to another country for treatment, Koca told reporters in Egypt on Wednesday.

Between 2 and 13 November, some 135 injured residents of Gaza were taken to Egypt for medical care via Rafah — the only border crossing point between the Hamas-held enclave and the north African nation.

On Tuesday, the Egyptian border opened for the evacuation of about 600 foreign nationals and dual citizens, and four injured people.

Since the raging war erupted on 7 October, a total of 11,078 people are estimated to have died in Gaza, over 1,200 in Israel, and 194 in the West Bank.