HUNDREDS of ill and injured children are to be evacuated from war-torn Gaza for NHS treatment in the UK under plans set to be announced within weeks.
Up to 300 children will enter the country to receive much-needed, free medical care, a source claims, as the harrowing humanitarian crisis continues to grow.
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A senior Whitehall source told The Sunday Times the plan will operate “in parallel” with a scheme run by humanitarian initiative Project Pure Hope.
The project was set up by volunteer medical professionals to bring sick and injured Palestinian children to the UK for treatment.
Just three children have been given medical visas since the war began in October 2023.
The plans approvals come after months of work done by the initiative that is funded by private donations.
It has been nearly a week since Israel, under international pressure amid growing scenes of starving children, announced limited humanitarian pauses and airdrops meant to get more food to Gaza.
The population of over two million people now largely rely on aid to survive.
But the UN has said far too little aid is coming in, with months of supplies piled up outside Gaza waiting for Israeli approval.
Trucks that enter are mostly stripped of supplies by desperate people and criminal groups before reaching warehouses for distribution.
Experts this week said a worst-case scenario of famine was occurring.
On Saturday, Gaza’s health ministry said seven Palestinians had died of malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, including a child.
The UN has said 500 to 600 trucks of aid are needed daily.
Families of the 50 hostages still in Gaza fear they are going hungry too, and blame Hamas, after the militants released images of an emaciated hostage, Evyatar David.
Hamas has said it will never lay guns down unless an independent Palestinian state is established and its capital is Jerusalem.
The militant group said it was giving a statement “in response to media reports quoting US envoy Steve Witkoff, claiming [Hamas] has shown willingness to disarm”.
It said: “We reaffirm that resistance and its arms are a legitimate national and legal right as long as the occupation continues.
“This right is recognised by international laws and norms, and it cannot be relinquished except through the full restoration of our national rights – first and foremost, the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
It comes as at least 51 people – including 27 aid workers – have been killed so far on Saturday in Israeli attacks across Gaza.
Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the devastating war on Gaza amid a deepening hunger crisis – coupled with Israel’s cruel blockade of aid deliveries.
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