Eight mobile medical units are stranded near Cairo after being blocked from entering Gaza for up to two years. Aid groups stated that Israel has prevented the vehicles from crossing the border on the grounds that the equipment is dual use and could be used by Hamas.
The convoy includes six state-of-the-art mobile maternity units, a kidney dialysis facility, and a general-purpose clinic. Funding for the project came from charities including Palestine Aid UK, Palestine Aid Ireland, Medics Worldwide, and Irish citizen and truck driver John Hurson.
Jilu Wahid, CEO of Palestine Aid UK, spoke about the urgent need for the vehicles. These are mothers we are trying to save, she told reporters. We need to allow these units in because they are going to immediately provide intervention. Combatants cannot use maternity units for anything. It does not make sense. They should let them in.
The medical system in Gaza has suffered severe damage during the war, leaving hospitals either partially ruined or destroyed. Each maternity unit cost 100,000 dollars and is built inside a vehicle designed to travel across the territory to deliver urgent care.
Palestine Aid UK explained that each clinic provides antenatal and postnatal care, safe delivery support, emergency obstetric triage, and newborn checks. The kidney dialysis unit cost 200,000 dollars, while the general clinic is valued at 85,000 dollars.
John Hurson led fundraising efforts for three of the units. I have always been acutely aware of the situation on the ground in Gaza, he said. I could not think of anything better to give a child in Gaza the best possible start in life than to be born in a safe, hygienic, secure way, to ensure that mothers get the best of attention and care.
United Nations data shows that severe maternal morbidity in Gaza rose to 82 cases per 1,000 deliveries in the first half of 2026. The enclave also recorded nearly 4,000 miscarriages during the same period. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that more than 57 percent of pregnant women in Gaza suffered from anemia.
Medics Worldwide, a Turkiye-based charity, stated that it made repeated efforts to secure passage for the units into Gaza and formal reception by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The organization engaged with the Egyptian Red Crescent, the World Health Organization, and Egyptian authorities, reporting no objections from the Egyptian side.
The obstacle has consistently been the refusal of the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, known as COGAT, which controls border crossings and the entry of shipments into Gaza. Wahid noted that the facilities were built to meet strict Israeli specifications, and donors have now stopped fundraising due to the uncertainty.
Hurson plans to visit Cairo to meet Egyptian officials and press for progress on deploying the units. We fundraise for these units and they are collecting dust, he said. The issue has also reached Irish authorities, with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin condemning the blockade during a parliamentary session in September.
