Keir Starmer 'hasn't responded' to John Swinney on Gaza child evacuations
Swinney said that the Scottish Government is looking to medically evacuate children suffering from injuries caused by Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, but that this "requires the support of the UK Government".
First Minister John Swinney (Image: PA) The First Minister revealed that he had written to Keir Starmer urging him to support the evacuations to hospitals in Scotland.
However, Swinney said on Sunday that he is yet to receive a response from the Prime Minister.
The First Minister said in a statement: 'It is deeply saddening that so far the UK Government has refused to even enter into a dialogue about medical evacuations for children in Gaza who, without proper medical attention, will be left to die.
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'That is the frank reality of life in Gaza under Israeli bombardment and blockade.
'The healthcare system in Gaza is on the brink of total collapse, with surgeons working day and night under artillery fire, with inadequate supplies and often no electricity.
'We know that many hospitals have been targeted and decimated by the IDF.'
The First Minister added that Scotland is prepared 'to do what is required to save the lives of as many of these kids as we can'.
Swinney's letter to Starmer was sparked by a meeting he had held with UN agency Unicef to discuss medical evacuations.
The SNP leader wrote in The National at the time: 'With hospitals destroyed and medical supplies running out, this is an emergency and a race against time to provide specialist medical care for the children and babies suffering from injuries caused by the war.
'Scotland's world-class National Health Service stands ready to play our full part in supporting these medical evacuations and the treatment of injured Palestinian children.'
He added: 'This requires the support of the UK Government, and I have asked the Prime Minister to support facilitating a transfer of these children, who need medical care to survive, to Scotland.'
Swinney's predecessor, Humza Yousaf, previously said that Scottish hospitals can help treat injured Gaza civilians if they are medically evacuated.
He added, however, that 'no request has been made' for the UK to receive medical evacuations from Gaza at that time.
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Since then, Israel has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's health ministry.
On Sunday, at least 73 Palestinians were killed while trying to reach desperately needed aid in Gaza.
In northern Gaza, 67 people were killed near the Zikim crossing with Israel as aid trucks had just arrived.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 25 trucks carrying supplies for "starving communities" entered the area but were met by large crowds that came under gunfire.
A UK Government spokeswoman said: 'Since the start of the conflict, UK support has provided essential healthcare to over 430,000 people in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
'We have helped several children with complex paediatric conditions access privately funded medical care in the UK, supporting an initiative by Project Pure Hope.
'We have been clear the situation in Gaza is intolerable and that there must be an immediate ceasefire.
'We urge Israel to let vital humanitarian aid in and allow Gazans to receive urgent healthcare, including allowing the sick and wounded to temporarily leave the Gaza Strip to receive treatment.'
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