Ten sick children arrive in UK from Gaza for treatment

A group of severely ill children have arrived in the UK from Gaza for urgent NHS specialist medical care, the UK government has confirmed.

The children are the first to be brought to the UK for treatment as part of a scheme co-ordinated by the government.

According to the World Health Organization, ten children were medically evacuated along with 50 companions.

The government said it was working to make sure families received “appropriate support” during their stay.

On Monday, two critically ill children and their families arrived in Scotland.

More children are expected to arrive in the coming weeks as part of the government operation organised by the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department of Health.

Officials said the children and their immediate family had been evacuated from Gaza to Jordan, where they were supported by British Embassy staff as they underwent security checks before their arrival in the UK.

The identity of the evacuees was not given.

Some Gazan children were previously brought privately to the UK for medical treatment through an initiative by Project Pure Hope, but the government until now had not evacuated any through its own scheme during the conflict.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the healthcare system in Gaza had been “decimated and hospitals are no longer functioning” with severely ill children “unable to get the medical care they need to survive.”

She called for the protection of medical infrastructure and health workers in Gaza, as well as a huge increase in medicines and supplies to be allowed in.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Every child deserves the chance to heal, to play, to simply be able to dream again. These young patients have witnessed horrors no child should ever see, but this marks the start of their journey towards recovery.

“This reflects the very best of our NHS values – compassion, care and expertise when it matters most.”

Israel launched a major ground offensive on Gaza City on Tuesday.

On the same day, a United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.

Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas militants on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 64,964 people have been killed by Israel during its campaign since then – almost half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

With famine having already been declared in the area by a UN-backed body, the UN has warmed an intensification of the offensive will push civilians into “even deeper catastrophe”.