No10 said plans to bring a first wave of sick and injured children from Gaza are moving ‘at pace’ as MPs warn there can be no delays to giving vital treatment
Sick and injured children from Gaza are expected in the UK for NHS treatment within weeks – with Downing Street saying it is working “at pace”.
Up to 50 youngsters are understood to be among the first group to be evacuated – and some may be allowed to enter the asylum system. No10 said a cross-government task force is “up and running” – but warned that it is a “sensitive and complex process”.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said more than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023 and over 156,000 wounded. More than 18,000 of the dead are children, it is claimed.
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Children brought to the UK for medical care will come from hospital with family members via a third country, where biometric data will be collected, it is expected. Keir Starmer’s official spokesman yesterday(MON) refused to be drawn on numbers, but said: “There’s a task force up and running to deliver this (as soon) as possible.
“Patients will obviously be assessed on a case-by-case basis, some will be brought to the UK if that’s the best option for their care. We obviously continue to provide significant support in the region as well, for evacuations within the region, to support people desperately in need of care.
“And that is on top of the significant aid that we’re providing to the region to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis.” He said the Government will give updates on the plans “as and when we can”, but said: “We are working at pace to deliver it.”
The health ministry said at least 60 people had been killed in the previous 24 hours. At least seven Palestinians were killed attempting to access aid on Monday morning.
Israel has disputed its figures, but hasn’t provided its own account of casualties. A small number of children have so far been brought to the UK for specialist medical care via an initiative by Project Pure Hope.
These youngsters are being treated privately. The Government’s plans, coordinated the Foreign Office, Home Office and Department of Health, is set to see children treated by the NHS.
Last month, a cross-party group of 96 MPs wrote a letter to the government urging them to bring sick and injured children from Gaza to the UK.
Suspended Labour MP Rachael Maskell, who signed the letter, has insisted that there must be “no delay”. She said: “There should be no delay in getting children from Gaza the healthcare they need.
“I have met regularly with clinicians on their return from Gaza, who have shared the most distressing stories of the challenges of providing services to children without the equipment and medication that is needed, and in inadequate facilities where they are daily having to make life and death decisions, when in the UK, they know that they would be able to treat and save so many more lives.
“It is vital that we do everything to provide healthcare at scale and more so, do everything to stop the killing in Gaza.”
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