Palestinian children and their families flown to Britain from Gaza for urgent NHS medical treatment

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said today's announcement marked "the start of their journey towards recovery."

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment "scandalous" and "fake".

The children have arrived in the UK along with their immediate families, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it had supported the medical evacuations of 10 "critical" children from Gaza to the UK. These children were evacuated with 50 companions, the WHO said.

Mr Streeting said: "No one can fail to be distressed by the devastating impact the war has had on the children of Gaza, and I cannot imagine the fear and anguish their families have endured. It is a soul-destroying situation that compels us to act.

"Every child deserves the chance to heal, to play, to simply be able to dream again. These young patients have witnessed horrors no child should ever see, but this marks the start of their journey towards recovery."

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS FROM GAZA

• 'You're saying the migrants are from Gaza?!' Michael Portillo left staggered as GB News guest erupts over Reform UK's deportation plan
• Greta Thunberg's Gaza-bound boat 'firebombed in drone strike' off north African coast
• Palestine: Sick Gaza children and their parents to be taken to Britain for NHS treatment

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Children are too often the innocent victims of war.

"In Gaza, where the healthcare system has been decimated and hospitals are no longer functioning, there are severely ill children unable to get the medical care they need to survive.

"As we welcome the first group of children to the UK for urgent treatment, their arrival reflects our determined commitment to humanitarian action and the power of international co-operation.

"We continue to call for the protection of medical infrastructure and health workers in Gaza, and for a huge increase in medicines and supplies to be allowed in."

Gaza resident Abu Mohammed Hamed said several of his relatives had been wounded or killed, including a cousin whose body was trapped by a concrete block: "We don't know how to take her out. We have been working on it since 3am."

Israel renewed calls on civilians to leave, and columns of Palestinians streamed towards the south and west in donkey carts, rickshaws, heavily laden vehicles or on foot.

"They are destroying residential towers, the pillars of the city, mosques, schools and roads," Abu Tamer, a 70-year-old man making the journey south with his family, told reporters in a text message. "They are wiping out our memories."

Some Gaza residents were staying put, too poor to secure a tent and transport or because there was nowhere safe to go.

Um Mohammad, a woman living in the suburb of Sabra, under aerial and ground fire for days said: "It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving."

Some Israeli military commanders have expressed concern that the Gaza City assault could endanger remaining hostages held by Hamas or be a "death trap" for troops.

Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, at a meeting Netanyahu convened late on Sunday with security chiefs, urged the prime minister to pursue a ceasefire deal, according to three Israeli officials.

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show.

Israel's military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says.