Evacuations of seriously ill and injured children from Gaza to receive treatment in the UK from the NHS will happen within weeks, the Government has indicated.
Some Gazan children have already been relocated privately to Britain for medical treatment through a scheme by Project Pure Hope, but there has so far not been an official Government initiative during the Israel-Gaza conflict.
However, a UK Government spokesperson said on Sunday that the plan was to “evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care,” with officials “working at pace to do so as quickly as possible.”
The Sunday Times reported that up to 300 young people will be allowed to enter the UK to receive free medical care, with a parent or guardian required to accompany each child and the Home Office carrying out biometric and security checks prior to travel.
The move comes following strong political pressure after more than 100 MPs, led by prominent Labour backbencher Stella Creasy, wrote a letter calling on the Government to evacuate seriously ill children from Gaza to the UK.
A Foreign Affairs Committee report last month said ministers had “declined to support a medical evacuation of critically injured children to the UK”, while other European countries, including Spain, Italy and Ireland, had taken in dozens of young Gazans.
The scheme will be launched as part of Britain’s efforts to alleviate the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, which has been subject to a gruelling Israeli military campaign, including restrictions on aid.
On Sunday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told The i Paper that the UK had sent £500,000 worth of medical supplies into Gaza in recent days via airdrops delivered by the Jordanian air force.
Children with canisters filled from an aid tanker providing water as more people wait to fill theirs (Photo: Getty)However, the Government has made clear that land routes are the only sustainable ways of delivering sufficient amounts of aid into Gaza to meet the scale of the humanitarian crisis.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “UK aid is contributing to the increase in aid reaching Gaza.
“The UK has recently sent £500,000 worth of medical supplies into Gaza on Jordanian helicopters. We continue to consider all potential avenues to deliver aid to meet the desperate needs of Palestinian civilians, safely and with dignity.”
Project Pure Hope has so far brought three children to the UK for treatment.
The latest, 15-year-old Majd al-Shagnobi, arrived in the UK last week to receive complex facial reconstructive surgery after an Israeli tank shell destroyed his jaw while he was trying to access aid.
His treatment is privately funded by Project Pure Hope and will begin at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in the coming days, carried out by a medical team working for free.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, more than 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israel Defence Force launched its military campaign following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed.
More than 50,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to Unicef.
Sir Keir Starmer said last week that the UK was “urgently accelerating” efforts to bring children over for treatment.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care.
“We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, with further details to be set out in due course.”
The UK and Jordan have been working together to airdrop aid amid warnings of widespread malnourishment in Gaza.
There have been warnings of a humanitarian crisis and widespread starvation in Gaza (Photo: Getty)It comes as the UK seeks to put pressure on Israel to change course with a plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September ahead of the UN General Assembly.
Starmer has said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months.
Concerns have been raised that this could mean a Palestinian state being recognised by the UK without Hamas releasing the remaining Israeli hostages.
British families of hostages say the Government has made clear to them that releases would “play no part” in the UK’s plans to recognise Palestine and that it could see those still held “rot in Hamas dungeons”.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK’s demands for Hamas to release all hostages and play no role in the future of Gaza are “absolute and unconditional”.
He told The Sunday Times: “The UK position on recognition is part of a coordinated international effort. It must begin with an immediate ceasefire that frees the hostages and ends the agony of their families, and which lifts the inhumane aid restrictions.”
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