04-08-2025
UK taskforce set up to bring injured children from Gaza
The UK will bring injured children from Gaza to NHS hospitals for treatment, after more than a year of campaigning by doctors.
As many as 300 children could be taken from Gaza and treated in NHS hospitals, according to reports, with a government representative confirming on Monday they were 'taking plans forward'.
Doctors and Palestinian families in the UK have campaigned for injured children to be taken to the UK since 2023 and were ready to pay for the treatment.
Three children have made the journey, with the third, 15-year old Majd Al Shagnobi, arriving last week for privately-funded facial reconstruction surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Existing blueprint
The government's plan builds on the work of Project Pure Hope, a UK charity which brought those three children from Gaza.
The charity had raised enough money to bring up to 50 Gazan children to the UK for treatment, but faced obstacles under the UK's slow moving visa process.
Instead, they began moving children from Gaza to hospitals in Italy and other parts of Europe. It took 17 months for the charity to bring its first two children from Gaza to the UK.
Project Pure Hope will become part of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office task force.
Omar Din, a co-founder of Project Pure Hope, said the charity's experience of triage in Gaza and co-ordinating evacuations with international agencies could help the government speed up cases, medical clearances and safe transfers.
'We've done a of groundwork already and we'll be sharing those details. We're asking them to take it as a blueprint,' he told The National. 'We'd be keen to share what worked well, what didn't work well.'
UK hospitals are likely to be sought for treating severe burns, limb salvage surgery, trauma centres and conditions that have gone unmanaged for a long time such as diabetes, Mr Din said. The UK also has world leading centres for neuro-rehabilitation.
Doctors and hospitals across the UK have long called for children from Gaza to come for treatment, and many UK-based medical professionals are travelling to the strip to support the work of hospitals there. 'We get several people contacting us every day, across communities in the UK, saying they want to help,' Mr Din said.
The full details of the plan will be announced in the coming weeks, but it has been suggested that the children would be treated on the NHS, with one parent or guardian accompanying them, and with security checks made by the Foreign Office.
Treatment on the NHS would also allow the patients to access treatment across the health system. 'When it's the NHS you've got the entire force available to you,' Mr Din said.
Project Pure Hope's privately-funded evacuations will continue in parallel with the government scheme.
Fast-tracking required
It comes amid overwhelming public pressure for the government to take strong measures to end the war in Gaza, and address the famine.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week that the UK was 'urgently accelerating' efforts to bring injured children to the UK, days after he announced terms for the conditional recognition of a Palestinian state sometime in September.
More than 50,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to Unicef.
There are concerns as to whether the UK can ask quickly enough to take evacuate children from Gaza who have urgent needs.
Majd spent a year in Gaza with his injuries before he could be moved to Egypt in February of this year. The Israeli tank shell that shattered his jaw has left him unable to smile, talk or eat properly in that time.
It was common for children on evacuation lists to die of their injuries or to be killed in a later attack before they had the chance to travel, Mr Din said.
The UK had responded to calls in May to evacuate two children, Hatem, a two-year-old orphan with 35 per cent burns, and Karam, aged one, who suffered from an easily treatable birth defect.
But they acted too slowly and Italy offered to take the two children, alongside 15 others, in an emergency evacuation on 11 June, Mr Din said.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney welcomed the reported plans, but he said he regretted the action did not come sooner.
The SNP leader said he had written to Mr Starmer on July 9 urging such action to be taken. 'If the UK government is prepared to evacuate Palestinians for medical treatment it would be entirely welcome.
'My only regret is the UK government has taken this long to act.
'I urge the UK government to do everything in its power to move swiftly so that lives can be saved. And Scotland will play our part.'
Labour MP Stella Creasy, who also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister last month urging the treatment of Palestinian children in the UK, said: 'Nobody can see the plight of these children and not be moved, and therefore they need us to move now to provide life-saving and life-changing treatment – the sooner we treat them the more chance of good outcomes.
A UK government representative said: 'We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care.
'We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, with further details to be set out in due course.'
