Shamefully, the UK has denied Gaza's injured children treatment in Britain
"I am proud that the UK is offering lifesaving medical care to these Ukrainian children, who have been forced out of their home country by the Russian invasion while undergoing medical treatment,” Sajid Javid, then the UK health secretary, said in March 2022.
Within weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the UK government had facilitated the evacuation of 21 Ukrainian children with cancer, and coordinated their treatment through the National Health Service (NHS).
In contrast, last week - after 17 months of persistent lobbying - only two children from Gaza were finally permitted to enter the UK for medical treatment.
They were chosen not because they are among those most severely injured by Israel’s onslaught in Gaza; quite the opposite. Their diagnoses appear more politically neutral, involving congenital conditions not directly related to Israel’s ongoing violence in Gaza.
Behind what some might frame as a triumph of British humanitarianism lies a much darker reality. These are the only two Palestinian children in need of medical care that the UK government has agreed to receive since Israel accelerated its assault on Gaza in October 2023.
