GENEVA- A World Health Organization official said on Tuesday that the first five patients were transferred through Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt, which reopened on Monday.

"On the second of February, WHO and partners supported the medical evacuation of five patients and seven companions to Egypt via the Rafah crossing," said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier.

"It was the first medical evacuation through this route since sometime in 2025," he said referring to a limited number of evacuations during an early 2025 ceasefire.

Over 18,500 patients are awaiting evacuations after the two-year war, he said, with trauma injuries from the war as well as chronic conditions such as cancer and diabetes.

A UNICEF spokesperson said that more than 3,000 of them were children. Gaza health authorities are choosing whom to prioritise among the sick and wounded, Lindmeier said.

"We know that patients have died basically waiting for evacuation, and that's something which is horrible when you know just a few miles or kilometers outside that border, help is available," he added.

-Reporting by Emma Farge, editing by Thomas Seythal and Madeline Chambers/Reuters