LONDON: British officials are working to get critically sick and injured children out of Gaza so they can receive specialist treatment in UK hospitals, the British foreign secretary said Monday, adding that the first patients will arrive in coming weeks.
David Lammy said he was “outraged” by Israel not allowing enough aid to enter Gaza as he announced 15 million pounds ($20 million) more for medical assistance for Gaza and the region.
“This is not a natural disaster, it’s a manmade famine in the 21st century,” he said. “I’m outraged by the Israeli government’s refusal to allow in sufficient aid.”
“We all know there is only one way out — an immediate ceasefire,” Lammy added.
He told lawmakers that British officials are also supporting students from Gaza who have been granted scholarships at UK universities so that they can start their studies in the fall.
Lammy said a “massive humanitarian response” was needed to prevent more Palestinians from dying and starving after the world’s leading authority on food crises said in late August that the Gaza Strip’s largest city is in the grips of famine.
He did not give specifics about the number of sick children or scholars that Britain is accepting from Gaza. But Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Parliament on Monday that officials are expediting visas for those Palestinians, as well as their accompanying family members.
British media have reported that officials are facilitating the evacuation of nine students in Gaza who were awarded Chevening scholarships, funded by Britain’s Foreign Office, but that dozens of other Palestinian students who have offers to study in the UK were still in limbo.
Officials have said they will not give specifics on the evacuation process because the situation was sensitive and complex.
Other European nations including Italy have also evacuated students and sick children from Gaza.
The UK funds field hospital operations in Gaza through a charity and works with the World Health Organization in Egypt to help treat some of the 8,000 people from Gaza who have been medically evacuated there.
UK ‘outraged’ at Israel restricting aid as it works to evacuate children from Gaza for treatment
https://arab.news/wqe49
UK ‘outraged’ at Israel restricting aid as it works to evacuate children from Gaza for treatment
- David Lammy said he was ‘outraged’ by Israel not allowing enough aid to enter Gaza
- Yvette Cooper told Parliament that officials are expediting visas for Palestinians
Palestinian man dies after being shot by Israeli forces
- Baraa Bilal Issa Qablan, 21, was traveling in vehicle near city of Qalqilya
LONDON: A Palestinian man died on Monday after being shot by Israeli forces during an incident on Sunday close to the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya.
Baraa Bilal Issa Qablan, 21, was injured when Israeli forces at the northern entrance to the town of Azzun opened fire on a vehicle traveling along the Qalqilya-Nablus road.
Momen Nidal Abu Riyash, 19, a resident of Qalqilya, was killed in the incident and a third man, identified as Muhammad Saeed Taha Hussein, was taken into custody.
Qablan was injured and detained by Israeli forces, the Wafa news agency reported. The Palestinian Authority’s General Authority for Civil Affairs said on Monday that he later succumbed to his injuries.
More than 1,000 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the start of the Gaza war in late 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
During the same period, 43 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks in the West Bank, according to official Israeli figures.
