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Between 30 and 50 critically ill and injured Palestinian children are expected to be evacuated from Gaza to the UK for urgent medical treatment in the coming weeks, the BBC has learned.
This will mark the first group of children transferred to Britain under a government-led operation involving the Foreign Office, Home Office, and Department of Health. The World Health Organization will select the children, who will travel with family members through a third country, where biometric data will be collected.
The move follows pressure from MPs, with 96 cross-party parliamentarians recently warning that children faced imminent risk of death due to the collapse of Gaza’s healthcare system. They urged ministers to remove all barriers to evacuation.
While some children have already reached the UK privately through the charity Project Pure Hope, the government has not yet carried out evacuations under its own scheme during the conflict. Ministers previously said plans to bring children for treatment were progressing "at pace."
Details remain unclear about which country the children will transit through, how many will ultimately be evacuated, or whether additional groups will follow. Given difficulties in returning them to Gaza, some may eventually enter the UK asylum system once treatment is completed.
Since the war began in October 2023, Unicef estimates over 50,000 children in Gaza have been killed or injured. The UK has provided funding for regional hospitals treating Gazan patients and coordinated aid drops with Jordan. Children brought to Britain will receive care through the NHS.
Elsewhere, severely ill Palestinians have been evacuated to countries such as Italy, which has accepted more than 180 adults and children. The UN has also warned of extreme malnutrition in Gaza, with experts stating famine conditions are already unfolding.
According to the Hamas-run health ministry, over 60,000 people have died in Gaza since Israel’s military campaign began, launched in retaliation for Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
