Political correspondent
Plans to evacuate more seriously ill or injured children from Gaza and bring them to the UK for medical treatment are being carried out “at pace”, the government says.
The understands the aim is to bring the plan into operation within weeks.
It is unclear how many children might be involved, but the Sunday Times reports the government is to allow up to 300 young people to enter the UK to receive free medical care.
Some Gazan children have already been brought privately to the UK for medical treatment through an initiative by Project Pure Hope, but the government has so far not evacuated any through its own scheme during the conflict.
A government spokesperson said on Sunday the plan was to “evacuate children from Gaza who require urgent medical care,” adding “we are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible.”
More than 50,000 children have been killed or injured since the war in Gaza begun in October 2023, according to the UN charity Unicef.
A Foreign Affairs Committee report published at the end of July said the government had “declined to support a medical evacuation of critically injured children to the UK, involving coordinating travel permits, medical visas and safe transport to the UK, where the children can receive specialised care unavailable to them in Gaza”.
Following that, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK was “urgently accelerating efforts” to evacuate children who needed critical medical assistance to the UK for treatment.
According to the Sunday Times, the government scheme will require a parent or guardian to accompany each child, and the Home Office will carry out biometric and security checks before they travel.
Project Pure Hope, a British organisation which includes volunteer medical professionals, has so far brought three children to the UK for treatment.
The most recent, 15-year-old Majd al-Shagnobi, arrived in the UK last week. He required complex facial reconstructive surgery after an Israeli tank shell destroyed his jaw when he was trying to access aid in February 2024. He was the first Palestinian child to be flown to the UK for treatment for war injuries.
His evacuation was organised in conjunction with the US NGO, Kinder Relief, which has helped other children from Gaza get medical treatment abroad.
His treatment, privately funded by Project Pure Hope, will begin at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London in the coming days, carried out by a medical team who will all work for free.
The organisation has been urging the government to establish a scheme similar to one created to treat Ukrainian refugees and welcomed the government’s plan, saying it would be able to share its expertise from successful private evacuations.
It said: “Our blueprint can help ensure the UK acts quickly and effectively, so that every child who needs urgent care has the best chance of survival and recovery.”
In April, the group secured visas for two girls -13-year-old Rama and five-year-old Ghena – to have privately funded operations in the UK for life-long medical conditions.
They were brought to London after being evacuated to Egypt from Gaza.
Ghena has had laser surgery to relieve the pressure in her left eye, which she was at risk of losing. And Rama has had exploratory surgery for a serious bowel condition.
Their mothers say both girls are doing well.
Medics have been warning of shortages in vital food and medical supplies for weeks, after Israel began a months-long blockade of all aid and goods into Gaza.
This has since been partially lifted, but humanitarian agencies have said more aid must be allowed to enter to Gaza to prevent famine and malnutrition worsening.
The Hamas-run health ministry said 175 people, including 93 children, have died from malnutrition.
Israel denies it is deliberately blocking aid flowing into Gaza and accuses the UN and other aid agencies of failing to deliver it.
Since the start of the war, the UK has provided funds so that injured Gazans can be treated by hospitals in the region, and has also been working with Jordan to airdrop aid into the territory.
Sir Keir said last week that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel took “substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza” – a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 60,000 people have since been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
