THE humanitarian crisis experienced by Palestinians in Gaza continues to worsen despite the ceasefire, according to aid workers today.

The World Health Organisation says more than 15,000 patients are waiting to be evacuated from Gaza — including 3,800 children. But the evacuation appears to have been blocked by Israel.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on social media that the United Nations body has so far managed to evacuate 41 critical patients out of Gaza. But Israel has continued to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed.

The continued close comes even though the ceasefire deal says the crossing would open for the movement of people.

This comes a day after the International Court of Justice said Israel must allow the UN aid agency in Gaza (UNRWA) to provide humanitarian assistance to the territory that has been largely destroyed by the Israelis.

The UN general assembly asked the court last year to give an advisory opinion on Israel’s legal obligations after the country effectively banned UNRWA, the main provider of aid to Gaza, from operating in the territory.

Israel “is under the obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities, including UNRWA,” the court’s president, Yuji Iwasawa, said.

Israel has denied it has violated international law, saying the court’s proceedings are biased, and did not attend hearings in April.

Meanwhile, the preliminary approval by the Israeli Knesset, the country’s parliament, of a Bill to extend sovereignty over the occupied West Bank has been slammed by Palestinians as well as by Israel’s main backer, the United States.

The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry said the occupied territories in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are part of the Palestinian territory as a single geographical unit.

“Sovereignty resides exclusively in the Palestinian people and their leaders, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation based on the natural, historical and legal right of the Palestinian people to their homeland, Palestine.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the international community to reject this resolution and take the necessary measures to prevent Israel from continuing its illegal activities in the Palestinian territory, which could lead to its forcible appropriation .

In an interview with Time Magazine, US President Donald Trump said the Israeli plan “won’t happen.

“It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. We’ve had great Arab support.”

He said: “Israel would lose all of its support from the US if that happened.”