Over 40,000 babies at risk of death due to Israeli blockade on baby formula
This ongoing blockade threatens an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and the slow death of tens of thousands of children, the office said.
A prematurely born baby lies inside an infant incubator at the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on 15 March 2025 (AFP)
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Japan firm seeks approval for stem cell treatment for Parkinson's
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The National
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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.'
The National
a day ago
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'This war left us with nothing': Gazan father who lost half his body weight pleads for end to conflict
Five more people have died from hunger in Gaza, health authorities said on Monday, amid warnings that what's left of the medical sector can no longer carry the burden. Gaza's health authorities said 180 people have now died of starvation – 93 of them children – under Israel 's blockade of the coastal territory. It added that the total death toll of Israel's war now stands at 60,199. Gaza's medical and humanitarian situation has deteriorated drastically, with severe food shortages, soaring child malnutrition, and collapsing healthcare infrastructure. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Al Shifa medical complex in Gaza city, said the situation has reached a breaking point. 'Every day, deaths due to malnutrition are being recorded in the Gaza Strip as a result of the deliberate starvation policy practised by the occupation,' Dr Abu Salmiya said. He warned that Gaza's health system can no longer carry the burden. 'We are overwhelmed,' he said. 'We cannot keep up with the number of patients suffering from hunger-related complications.' One starving Gazan, 75-year-old Salim Asfour, has lost more than half his body weight during months of food shortages. 'I can't go to collect aid. I can't even walk 10 metres,' he told The National. 'I have to lean on my son just to go to the bathroom. Even if I do manage to get there, how can I, a 75-year-old man, carry a bag of flour?" As the humanitarian situation worsens, international efforts have included air drops of food and aid supplies. The UAE carried out its 61st aid flight on Sunday, with the help of Jordan, France, Germany, Belgium and Italy. The UAE air drops 'aim to deliver essential humanitarian aid to areas that are difficult to access by land due to the ongoing field conditions', the state news agency Wam reported. The UAE has called for humanitarian assistance to reach those in need in Gaza 'through all available means'. Jordan's King Abdullah II last week described land crossings as 'the main and most effective means to provide sufficient aid, in addition to air drops'. On the ground, displaced families express growing despair at the humanitarian situation. Mohammed Abu Adghaem, a father of five currently in Al Naser, said the physically strong, or those with cars, are best-placed to get the food from air drops. The message from Gaza is unified and urgent: open the land crossings. 'The only real solution is opening the crossings and flooding the market with aid,' said Ismail Al Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza. 'That aid must be distributed by organisations like UNRWA that know how to do it fairly, safely and with dignity.'
