Joy as girls from Gaza become first to arrive in UK for vital treatment - 'like a dream'
Seriously-ill Rama, 12, and Ghena, five, will receive specialised care in London after becoming the first children from Gaza to get to the UK for vital treatment
Two young girls from war-torn Gaza are receiving vital treatment in the UK after a landmark breakthrough.
Seriously-ill Rama, 12, and Ghena, five, will receive specialised care in London after a "lifeline to hope" agreement to bring them to Britain. The girls are the first to arrive under a new humanitarian scheme with healthcare in the region on the brink of collapse amid a brutal Israeli aid blockade.
The girls both have conditions they have suffered with from birth, but cannot get the treatment they desperately need in Gaza. Moving photos show Rama and Ghena, whose care is being paid for by charity Project Pure Hope (PPH), arriving in London.
The girls, accompanied by their mothers and one sibling, are now being treated in the private wing of top hospitals in the capital. The little girls are among thousands of children in desperate need of treatment with little or no access to vital treatment.
Rama's mum Rena said reaching the UK was "just like a dream". Her daughter - who is weak and malnourished - is expected to undergo a bowel operation in London.
Meanwhile Ghena requires urgent treatment to save the vision in her left eye. Dr Farzana Rahman, from PPH, told Sky News: "One of the hardest parts of trying to make progress in this area is that delays cost lives.
"A number of children have died who we haven't been able to help and this is an urgent situation and I think for all of us that's the hardest part." Dr Rahman said she did not know why it had taken so long to secure visas for the two girls.
Their arrival follows nearly 18 months of negotiations and has been hailed by supporters. Dr Krish Kandiah told The Mirror: "Seeing two young girls finally receive the medical help they so desperately need is truly wonderful. It's the culmination of 18 months of campaigning, negotiating, and organising.
"When compassion crosses borders, healing begins — one child, one act of kindness at a time. Our prayer is that these Gazan children will be the first, not the last, whom the UK helps."
Baroness Arminka Helic said: 'These gravely injured children should never have been in this position. Many of them are suffering from injuries or conditions that require highly specialised care. In Gaza, where the health system has collapsed, that care simply doesn't exist.
"Giving them access to treatment isn't just the right thing to do, it is the only chance they have at recovery." Rama and Ghena were flown to the UK from Egypt following lengthy collaboration between PPH, UK medics, the British government and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.
The Foreign Office stressed it had not opened a new visa route for refugees. PPH warned that thousands more children are unable to get the treatment they need.
Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer said a "small number" of kids from Gaza will be allowed to travel to the UK for privately-funded treatment. The Government has called on Israel to end its blockade, now in its ninth week, and let aid through.
Medical supplies are running low and all of Gaza's hospitals are damaged after months of airstrikes.
The United Nations' emergency relief coordinator said Israel's actions amount to "cruel collective punishment." Tom Fletcher said: "Blocking aid starves civilians. It leaves them without basic medical support.
"It strips them of dignity and hope. It inflicts a cruel collective punishment. Blocking aid kills." UN food stockpiles have run out and aid groups say thousands of Palestinian children are malnourished.
Israel insists its blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release hostages. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said the blockade means 3.000 trucks of vital supplies cannot reach the one million children whose lives are in danger without them.
Gaza's Health Ministry said a further 18 people had been killed and dozens more wounded in Israeli strikes. It said the overall death toll since October 2023 is now over 52,000 people.
The ministry claims more than half the dead have been women and children. The bodies of another eight people - including three children and three women - arrived at Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis, the hospital said.
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