Latest news with #ProjectPureHope
ITV News
4 days ago
- Health
- ITV News
Pressure mounts on UK to approve evacuation and treatment of two critically ill children in Gaza
International pressure is mounting on the UK government to assist with the evacuation of two critically ill children trapped in Gaza. Project Pure Hope, a charity comprised of medical professionals and humanitarians, has called on the prime minister and foreign secretary to intervene and approve the children's evacuation. Three-year-old Hatem was severely injured in a bomb blast that killed both his parents in Gaza. He is suffering from 30% burns and requires specialist treatment. Karam, who is one year old, suffers from a complex bowel condition and requires immediate surgical intervention. His condition has deteriorated significantly, and he is experiencing severe malnutrition. British plastic surgeon Victoria Rose, who is currently in Gaza, said: "We are losing children left, right, and centre from avoidable deaths. The situation is beyond critical. These children need immediate evacuation to survive." Hatem and Karam's evacuation has already been organised by Project Pure Hope, who say they will fully fund the medevac flights and ongoing medical treatment. "These children's lives depend on the UK government's help. We have already shown what is possible by bringing two other children to safety and initiating their treatment," Rose added. Speaking about the calls to evacuate these children, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, said: "The scale of the medical catastrophe for children and the population of Gaza is horrendous, and that's why we increased our aid. "What will end this suffering is a ceasefire but if there is more that we can do to end the suffering, of course, we will seek to do that." CEO of Project Pure Hope, Dr Farzana Rahman told ITV News she wanted the UK government to, "understand the urgency of these cases," adding the "survival of these children depends on it." "In terms of caring for injured children from Gaza the UK, compared to its European counterparts, is nowhere close to providing the level of care that the other European countries have." Dr Rahman said whilst the UK had so far evacuated and treated two children earlier this year, European counterparts had so far collectively helped over 100. "The public are very supportive, they recognise that children everywhere deserve a life with dignity. They deserve a right to access healthcare." "50% of Gaza's population are children and I think the devastating toll of both the physical and psychological injuries will manifest for generations to come." Ghena, five and Rama, 12, were the first children from Gaza to arrive in the UK for medical treatment with Project Pure Hope's help. ITV News Correspondent Rachel Younger and Senior Producer Roohi Hasan covered the story. The evacuation request comes as Gaza finds itself on the brink of starvation. More than 9,000 children who have been treated for malnutrition this year, according to the UN children's agency, and food security experts say cases are expected to rise. For more than two months, Israel has banned all food, medicine and other goods from entering the territory that is home to some two million Palestinians, as it continues to carry out waves of airstrikes and ground operations. After weeks of insisting Gaza had enough food, Israel relented in the face of international pressure last week and began allowing dozens of humanitarian trucks into the territory last week - including some carrying baby food. On Thursday, the White House announced Israel had accepted a new US proposal for a temporary ceasefire which would see a pause in fighting and the return of more hostages. Speaking to reporters White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Israel "backed and supported" the proposal. Responding to the proposal, top Hamas official Bassem Naim said: 'The Zionist response, in essence, means perpetuating the occupation and continuing the killing and famine." He went on to claim the proposal "does not respond to any of our people's demands, foremost among which is stopping the war and famine.' Despite this Hamas have said they will study the proposed ceasefire but have yet to make a statement on whether they plan to accept its terms. Hamas had previously said it had agreed with Steve Witkoff on a 'general framework' of an agreement that would lead to a lasting ceasefire. Earlier this year, a ceasefire was implemented which saw the release of some hostages but it is believed Hamas still hold 58. When Israel broke the ceasefire agreement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any future negotiations would take place "under fire." Recently Qatar, which has been assisting ceasefire negotiations, said "fundamental differences" remained between the two sides. Netanyahu has said Israel will only end the war when all hostages are released, Hamas is destroyed or disarmed and Israel controls Gaza indefinitely facilitating what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of its population. Whilst the suggestion of displacing Gaza's population has also been suggested by US President Donald Trump most of the international community has rejected it with some legal experts saying it would likely violate international law. Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners' release, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
'What did they do to be burned and bombed?': Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment
A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment. Warning: This article contains images readers may find distressing The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words. "Now, we need action," Omar Dinn said. He's identified two children inside who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency. Israel-Gaza latest: Britain has taken only two patients from Gaza for medical treatment in 20 months of Israeli bombardment. "Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that's unfolding in Gaza are children," he continued. "And children are the most vulnerable. "They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are. "They are children, just like my children, just like everybody's children in this country - and we have the ability to help them." Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they're working under. They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day. Dr Victoria Rose told us: "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." One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment. His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body. "It's a massive burn for a little guy like this," Dr Rose says. "He's so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt." Hatem's grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: "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 charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine. He's suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment - unavailable to him in Gaza right now. Read more: Karam's mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: "No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn't be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying." Children are among the bulk of casualties - some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials - and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.
Sky News
5 days ago
- General
- Sky News
'What did they do to be burned and bombed': Charity calls on UK to offer Gaza children life-saving treatment
A British charity has written to the prime minister and foreign secretary, urging them to allow seriously ill children from Gaza into the UK to receive life-saving medical treatment. The co-founder of Project Pure Hope told Sky News it was way past the time for words. "Now, we need action," Omar Dinn said. He's identified two children inside Gaza who urgently need help and is appealing to the UK government to issue visas as a matter of urgency. "Most of the people affected by this catastrophe that's unfolding in Gaza are children," he continued. "And children are the most vulnerable. "They have nothing to do with the politics, and we really just need to see them for what they are. "They are children, just like my children, just like everybody's children in this country - and we have the ability to help them." Sky News has been sent video blogs from British surgeons working in Gaza right now which show the conditions and difficulties they're working under. They prepare for potential immediate evacuation whilst facing long lists, mainly of children, needing life-saving emergency treatment day after day. Dr Victoria Rose told us: "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." One of her patients is three-year-old Hatem, who was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family apartment. His pregnant mother and father were both killed, leaving him an orphan. He has 35 percent burns on his small body. "It's a massive burn for a little guy like this," Dr Rose says. "He's so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt." Hatem's grandfather barely leaves his hospital bedside. Hatem Senior told us: "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 charity is Karam, who, aged one, is trying to survive in a tent in deeply unhygienic surroundings with a protruding intestine. He's suffering from a birth defect called Hirschsprung disease, which could be easily operated on with the right skills and equipment - unavailable to him in Gaza right now. Karam's mother Manal told our Gaza camera crew: "No matter how much I describe how much my son is suffering, I wouldn't be able to describe it enough. I swear I am constantly crying." Children are among the bulk of casualties - some 16,000 have been killed, according to the latest figures from local health officials - and make up the majority of those being operated on, according to the British surgical team on the ground.
Middle East Eye
02-05-2025
- Health
- Middle East Eye
First children from Gaza arrive in UK for medical treatment after 17-month struggle
Two young girls from Gaza have arrived in the UK, the first Palestinian children in need of specialist medical treatment to be evacuated to the country, over a year and a half into a war that has devastated Gaza's healthcare system. Rama, 12, and Ghena, five, travelled to the UK from Egypt last week and will be treated in the private wings of leading hospitals in London, through a project funded entirely by charitable donations. "We were so scared. We were living in tents and shrapnel from air strikes used to fall on us," Rama, who has a lifelong bowel condition and needs an urgent operation, told the BBC. "Mum used to suffer so much going to hospitals while bombs were falling and would stand in long queues just to get me a strip of pills. Here I'll get treatment and get better and be just like any other girl." Ghena will be treated for fluid pressing up against her optic nerve. Without an operation, she could lose sight in her left eye. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Project Pure Hope, the initiative through which the girls came in partnership with the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), is the result of over a year and half of effort among a group of organisations and healthcare workers to push for a legal pathway to bring children from Gaza to the UK for treatment. 'A moment of national shame' But a doctor speaking on behalf of a campaign group for medical workers supporting Palestine told MEE the length of time it had taken the British government to allow the two girls into the country - while leaving others in need of treatment still without visas - ought to be "a moment of national shame". He criticised the government too for failing to provide the girls with fully funded care, as it had done for Ukrainian children flown to the UK for medical treatment. Why Israel is waging war on Palestinian children Read More » An attempt in January 2024 to bring four siblings and their cousin from Gaza to the UK for medical treatment through the same initiative and also funded by donations was unsuccessful when they were unable to obtain visas from the Home Office. Meanwhile, the need for medical evacuations for children in Gaza, the demand for which was already overwhelming the short list of countries offering to receive them, has only grown. Baroness Arminka Helic, who has been calling on the government to create a pathway, said this week that gravely injured children in Gaza "should never have been in this position". "Many of them are suffering from injuried or conditions that require highly specialised care. In Gaza, where the health system has collapsed, that care simply doesn't exist," she said. "Giving them access to treatment isn't just the right thing to do, it is the only chance they have at recovery, and I thank the UK doctors and healthcare leaders who made this possible after seventeen months of tireless dedication and collaboration.' 'Appalling double standard' Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, a British-Egyptian paediatric neurologist and founder of Health Workers for Palestine, said that the girls' arrival was a "tribute to the extraordinary efforts of Dr Farzana Rahman, Project Pure Hope and the Palestinian families and volunteers who fought for their survival". Abdel-Mannan has previously been a vocal supporter of the campaign to bring the girls to the UK. However, he said, their evacuation after more than 17 months of struggle "was made possible not by the UK government, but despite it". "This should not be a moment of national pride. It should be a moment of national shame," Abdel-Mannan said. 'This should not be a moment of national pride. It should be a moment of national shame' - Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan, Health Workers for Palestine "After 18 months of Israel's relentless bombing, genocidal acts, mass displacement, and the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system, the UK has admitted just two injured Palestinian children." He noted that in contrast to the girls, whose care depends entirely on volunteers and private donors, Ukrainian children evacuated to the UK for treatment in recent years have received fully state-funded care. "This appalling double standard reveals a brutal truth: the UK government does not treat all children's lives as equal. That is morally indefensible," Abdel-Mannan said. Project Pure Hope, which is also providing the girls' families with temporary housing, interpreters, mental health services and safeguarding measures, said their arrival marked "the beginning of a broader programme to provide medical treatment for more children in the months ahead". PCRF board chair Vivian Khalaf said the mission was a testament to "our relentless determination to save lives, even in the face of overwhelming obstacles and prolonged, complex evacuation procedures". "But this is just one success - countless critically ill and injured children in Gaza are still waiting. The need is urgent, and we must respond with the urgency this crisis demands, both in Gaza and beyond.'
Arab News
02-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Palestinian girls arrive in UK for medical treatment
LONDON: Two young Palestinian girls have arrived in the UK for medical treatment of serious health conditions. The girls, named by the BBC as Ghena, aged 5, and Rama, 12, are the first Gazans to be given temporary UK visas since Oct. 7, 2023. They flew from Egypt, where they have been living with complex conditions after Gaza's healthcare system collapsed during Israel's invasion. Rama, who has a serious bowel condition, previously lived in Khan Younis and told the BBC: 'We were so scared. We were living in tents and shrapnel from airstrikes used to fall on us. 'Mum used to suffer so much going to hospitals while bombs were falling and would stand in long queues just to get me a strip of pills. Here I'll get treatment and get better and be just like any other girl.' Her mother told the BBC: 'I'm very happy for Rama because she'll get treatment here. As a mother, I felt so sorry in Gaza because I couldn't do anything to help her. 'To see your daughter dying in front of your eyes, day by day, watching her weaken and get sicker — it pained me.' Ghena has fluid pressing against her optic nerve, which could cause blindness if left untreated. Her mother Haneen told the BBC: 'Before the war, Ghena was having medical treatment in Gaza, in a specialised hospital. She was getting tests done every six months there and treatment was available.' Haneen said the hospital was destroyed in the first week of Israel's invasion, leaving the family with little choice but to seek help elsewhere. 'She began complaining about the pain,' Haneen said. 'She would wake up screaming in pain at night.' Haneen added: 'I hope she gets better here. In Gaza there are thousands of injured and sick children who need medical treatment. I hope they get a chance like Ghena.' The girls were assisted by Project Pure Hope and the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, which worked with the World Health Organization to get them to the UK for treatment. PCRF Chairwoman Vivian Khalaf told the BBC: 'We came across these cases through an ongoing list that is getting longer and longer of children who need urgent medical treatment outside of Gaza. 'The current physicians and hospitals that continue to be operating to whatever extent have determined that the treatment isn't available within Gaza.' Khalaf said 200 children from Gaza have so far been taken abroad for medical treatment, including to the US, Jordan, Qatar and European countries. The WHO has condemned the state of Gaza's health system as 'beyond description' after 18 months of conflict that has killed more than 50,980 Palestinians in the enclave, according to its Health Ministry.
