Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment
One of the children, three-year-old Haitham, was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family home, killing his father and pregnant mother, Sky News reported.
He has been left with burns across 35 percent of his body and is being treated in Nasser hospital, the last working medical facility in southern Gaza.
UK charity calls on government to rescue two children in Gaza.
Our special correspondent @AlexCrawfordSky spoke with doctors treating Haitham who are worried he might not survive.
Watch our special programme on the impact of the war in Gaza at 9pm BST https://t.co/vWCZBXT2KW pic.twitter.com/LWLjMw6a59
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 29, 2025
British surgeon Dr. Victoria Rose, who is treating Haitham, said she is worried he might not survive because the hospital no longer has the resources to look after him properly.
'It's a massive burn for a little guy like this,' Rose said. 'He's so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.'
Referring to the renewed violence in Gaza, she said: 'Every time I come, I say it's really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It's mass casualties. It's utter carnage.
'We are incapable of getting through this volume. We don't have the personnel. We don't have the medical supplies. And we really don't have the facilities.
'We are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.'
Haitham's grandfather, Hatem Karara, said Haitham had also suffered internal bleeding.
He said: 'What did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries. To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.'
The second child identified by the UK-based charity Project Pure Hope is one-year-old Karam, who is suffering from a rare birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the bowel.
His protruding intestine could easily be operated on with the right skills and equipment available in the UK.
An initial operation was carried out in Rafah, but when his family was forced to flee to Khan Younis, Karam's condition worsened, his mother Manal Nayef Mostafa Adra said.
She said a foreign doctor told her that the surgery needs to be redone outside of Gaza.
Omar Dinn, co-founder of Project Pure Hope, said the charity would fully fund bringing the children to the UK.
He said the UK government had made strong statements recently condemning Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the blocking of aid supplies, and now had the opportunity to act.
'We're giving them an action, which is the ability to allow two more children to come to the UK for privately funded medical treatment and to save their lives,' he said.
'If we don't act for these two children now, it's very likely that the outcome will be nothing but death.'
Two girls from Gaza with serious health conditions were flown to the UK earlier this month for specialist treatment. But only three Palestinian children have been allowed into the UK for healthcare since Israel launched its devastating offensive in Gaza 20 months ago.
Of the nearly 54,000 Palestinians killed in the war, 16,000 have been children.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Arabiya
11 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
UK-France migrant returns deal takes effect
A 'one-in, one-out' deal in which Britain can return some migrants who cross the Channel in small boats back to France came into force on Tuesday, the UK government announced. The interior ministry said that British authorities were 'operationally ready' and that migrant detentions were expected to begin 'within days' following ratification of the agreement. 'Today we send a clear message – if you come here illegally on a small boat you will face being sent back to France,' Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement after striking the deal with French President Emmanuel Macron last month. The agreement seeks to curb record levels of irregular Channel crossings that are causing discontent in Britain and helping fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party. Under the arrangement – for now a pilot scheme set to run until June 2026 – irregular migrants arriving on UK shores could be detained and returned to France if they are deemed ineligible for asylum. In exchange, the UK will accept an equal number of migrants from France who can apply for asylum via an online platform, giving priority to nationalities most vulnerable to smugglers and to people with ties in Britain. The two governments signed the final text last week, with the EU Commission giving its 'green light on this innovative approach,' Britain's Home Office said in a statement late Monday. 'The unscrupulous business model of smugglers must be broken,' the European Union's migration commissioner Magnus Brunner wrote on X Tuesday. Today, the pilot agreement between France and the UK on the prevention of dangerous journeys enters into force. The rising number of migrants smuggled across the English Channel is worrying. The unscrupulous business model of smugglers must be broken. I therefore welcome… — Magnus Brunner (@magnusbrunner) August 5, 2025 But refugee charities have criticized the deal, urging the British government to provide more safe and legal routes for asylum seekers instead. The number of migrants making the dangerous journey in flimsy dinghies this year crossed 25,000 at the end of July, the highest tally ever at this point in the year. The rise, which the government has partly attributed to extended periods of good weather, means Labour leader Starmer is struggling to fulfil one of his main pledge's before winning last year's general election. Social media ads In recent weeks, anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters have clashed outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Britain, with some demonstrations turning violent. Starmer has tried to portray the deal as a diplomatic victory after years of faltering cooperation between France and the UK on the politically sensitive issue. 'This is the product of months of grown-up diplomacy delivering real results for British people as we broker deals no government has been able to achieve,' he said. While the agreement has also met with criticism in northern France, where some officials say the scheme is too favorable to the UK, Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK party says it does not go far enough to secure Britain's borders. Interior minister Yvette Cooper said Tuesday that she would not put a number on how many migrants would be deported under the deal. 'Of course, it will start with lower numbers and then build, but we want to be able to expand it,' she told BBC radio. The Home Office this week pledged £100 million ($132 million) for law enforcement, including additional staff and technology, to 'tackle' gangs who organize the crossings. Starmer's government also said it would make it an offence to promote on social media dangerous immigration routes into the UK, including via the Channel. Under the new provision, which will be part of a border security bill making its way through parliament, those found advertising such crossings could be fined and face up to five years in prison. According to a Home Office analysis, 80 percent of migrants arriving via small boats told officials they used social media during the process.
Al Arabiya
41 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel set to order new Gaza war plan
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepared Tuesday to unveil an updated Gaza war plan designed to destroy Hamas and secure the release of dozens of hostages, with Israeli media reporting he would order the total occupation of the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu was expected to meet security chiefs in Jerusalem to issue new orders, even as Israel's diplomats convened a UN Security Council meeting in New York to highlight the plight of Israelis held in Gaza. The timing of the security meeting has not been officially confirmed. Netanyahu said Monday that it would be 'in the coming days.' Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 said Netanyahu would meet the army chief of staff, and the defense and army ministers. Unnamed senior officials told Israeli media he intends to order the re-occupation of Gaza. 'Netanyahu wants the Israeli army to conquer the entire Gaza Strip,' said a report on public broadcaster Kan. 'Several cabinet members who spoke with the prime minister confirmed that he has decided to extend the fight to areas where hostages might be held.' The private daily Maariv declared: 'The die is cast. We're en route for the total conquest of Gaza.' While the reconquest plan has not been officially confirmed, it has already drawn an angry response from the Palestinian Authority and Gaza's government, which insisted it will not shift its position on ceasefire talks. Desperate families After 22 months of combat sparked by the October 7, 2023 cross-border attacks by Hamas that killed 1,219 people and saw hundreds kidnapped, the Israeli army has devastated large parts of the Palestinian territory. More than 60,933 Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry, and humanitarian agencies have warned that the territory's 2.4 million people are slipping into a catastrophic famine. But Netanyahu is under pressure on several fronts. Domestically, the desperate and vocal families of the 49 remaining hostages are demanding a ceasefire to bring their loved ones home. Around the world, humanitarians are pushing for a truce to allow in food to the starving, and several European capitals have announced plans to recognize Palestinian statehood, despite fierce US and Israeli opposition. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's far-right allies in his ruling coalition want to seize the opportunity of the war to reoccupy Gaza and tighten control of the occupied West Bank. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was in New York, where Israel's US ally was helping organize a Security Council meeting to focus world attention on the fate of the hostages rather than the looming famine -- which Israeli spokespeople insist is an exaggerated threat. The defense ministry civil affairs agency for the Palestinian territories, COGAT, said Tuesday that Israel will partially reopen private sector trade with Gaza to reduce its reliance on UN and aid agency convoys and international military airdrops. 'As part of formulating the mechanism, a limited number of local merchants were approved by the defense establishment, subject to several criteria and strict security screening,' COGAT said. Israel has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza for 22 months and imposed a total blockade on March 2, partially lifted in May to allow a US-backed private agency to open food distribution centers. Aid convoys and airdrops by Arab and European militaries resumed last month, as UN-mandated expert reports warned famine was unfolding in the war-torn territory. The COGAT statement said private sector deliveries would be paid for by monitored bank transfers and be subject to inspections by the Israeli military before entering Gaza, 'to prevent the involvement of the Hamas terrorist organization.' Staple foods Permitted goods under the new mechanism will include food staples, fruit, vegetables, baby formula and hygiene products, COGAT said. On Monday. Netanyahu insisted Israel's war goals remained 'the defeat of the enemy, the release of our hostages and the promise that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.' His statement came after hundreds of retired Israeli security chiefs wrote to US President Donald Trump to urge him to convince Netanyahu to end the war, arguing that Israel has already scored a military victory and should seek to negotiate the hostages' release. The families of the hostages are also horrified by talk of escalation, accusing the government of putting their relatives in renewed danger, even as Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad release propaganda videos showing emaciated captives.
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
UK to start returning some migrants to France within days under new deal
LONDON: Britain said it will begin implementing a deal to return some migrants who arrive on small boats to France within days, a key part of its plans to cut illegal migration, after a treaty on the arrangement is ratified on the new deal, France has agreed to accept the return of undocumented people arriving in Britain by small boats, in exchange for Britain agreeing to accept an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with British family Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the 'one in, one out' pilot scheme on migrant returns last than 25,000 people have come to Britain on small boats so far in 2025, and Starmer has pledged to 'smash the gangs' of smugglers to try to reduce the number of whose popularity has fallen since winning an election landslide last year, is facing pressure to stop small boats from Nigel Farage's Reform UK party, which leads national opinion recent weeks in England, there have been a number of protests around hotels housing the asylum seekers who have arrived on small boats, attended by both anti-immigration and pro-immigration Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X that the new agreement between the countries has a 'clear objective' to break up the people-smuggling networks, although British interior minister Yvette Cooper would not say how many people would be returned under the scheme.'The numbers will start lower and then build up,' she told Sky News on Tuesday, adding that the people returned would be those who had immediately arrived on small boats, rather than people already in sources previously said the agreement would involve about 50 returns a week, or 2,600 a year, a fraction of the more than 35,000 arrivals reported last of the scheme have said that the scale will not be sufficient to act as a deterrent, but Cooper said that the agreement with France was just one part of the government's wider government has also targeted people smugglers with sanctions, clamped down on social media adverts and is working with delivery firms to tackle the illegal work that is often promised to migrants.A treaty on the scheme was signed last week but not previously announced ahead of Tuesday's ratification. Britain said the European Commission and European Union member states had given the green light to the plan.
