More wounded Palestinian children and cancer patients arrive in the UAE

Patients evacuated from Gaza as part of continuing relief efforts

Palestinian patients and their families arrive at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Friday. Photo: Wam

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Dozens more wounded Palestinian children and cancer patients have arrived in the UAE to undergo medical treatment.

A group of 28 patients – accompanied by 35 family members – were evacuated from Gaza and transported to the Emirates from Al Arish Airport in Egypt.

They landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport on Friday night and were transported to local hospitals.

They are the eighth group of Gazans to arrive in the Emirates for treatment under a humanitarian initiative aimed at supporting the Palestinian people amid the Israel-Gaza war.

President Sheikh Mohamed announced the UAE would provide treatment for 1,000 injured Palestinian children and 1,000 cancer patients as part of the relief campaign.

The patients hailed the UAE's “unique model” in responding to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people, according to state news agency Wam.

The UAE has also doubled the capacity of its desalination plants on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip.

The expanded plants, inaugurated on Sunday by Sheikh Shakhbout bin Nahyan, Minister of State, will supply 4.5 million litres of clean drinking water a day to Gazans.

More than 9,600 children have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war, now in its fourth month, with 45,000 rockets and bombs used in attacks on the enclave since October 7.

The overall death toll in Gaza has passed 22,300 and more than 57,000 injuries have been recorded.

The Hamas government's media office said 1.9 million people have been displaced and 65,000 tonnes of explosives have been used by Israel, damaging 290,000 homes.

Latest from the Israel-Gaza war – in pictures