Medics setting up a young patient in an ambulance heading out of Gaza from the European Hospital in Khan Younis in November. AFP
Medics setting up a young patient in an ambulance heading out of Gaza from the European Hospital in Khan Younis in November. AFP
Medics setting up a young patient in an ambulance heading out of Gaza from the European Hospital in Khan Younis in November. AFP
Medics setting up a young patient in an ambulance heading out of Gaza from the European Hospital in Khan Younis in November. AFP

Frustration with UK delay treating injured Gaza children


Lemma Shehadi
  • English
  • Arabic

British-Palestinian families are still hoping they can welcome injured children from Gaza into their homes, despite continued silence from the UK government on whether or not it will facilitate their visa applications.

Medical aid organisations, community groups and MPs have been lobbying the UK government for months and meeting senior ministers about fully funded plans to treat a small amount of injured children privately in leading UK hospitals. For British Palestinian families, these negotiations have kept alive a “glimmer of hope” that injured children could come to the UK for treatment soon.

Some of the families who offered to host the children during their stay in the UK have been “on standby” for almost a month, after hearing from a Palestinian medical charity that they expect approval for some medical evacuations from the Israeli authorities at any time.

“We’re still optimistic, we have to be ready if it happens,” Nehad Khanfar, the head of the Association of the Palestinian Community in the UK, told The National. Mr Khanfar is in contact with those families. The group met the Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Downing Street in October last year, and told him they had raised the funds to bring Palestinian children from Gaza to the UK for treatment.

Medics from the World Health Organisation and the Palestinian Red Crescent prepare to start evacuating patients from Khan Younis in Gaza. AFP
Medics from the World Health Organisation and the Palestinian Red Crescent prepare to start evacuating patients from Khan Younis in Gaza. AFP

Mr Starmer had promised that deputy leader Angela Rayner, who is Minister for Communities, would organise a follow-up with the families, but Dr Khanfar said they had not been contacted since the first meeting in October. The National has contacted the UK government for comment.

More aid is expected to come into Gaza after a ceasefire came into effect on Sunday, but the extensive damage to the strip's hospitals means Palestinians will continue to require overseas care for the time being. Fully funded plans covering transportation and treatment in the UK, devised by medical charity Project Pure Hope, were presented to the UK's new Labour government in November.

But the charity’s most recent letter to the Cabinet Office last week has so far gone unanswered, despite repeated assurances that the case was being reviewed. Arminka Helic, a Conservative peer, expressed her frustration with the government's silence last week.

“I have consistently over the last year supported Project Pure Hope, which ever since November has been trying to extend medical assistance to severely injured children in this country, at no cost to taxpayers, for a limited time, in limited numbers,” she told the House of Lords. “So far they have failed, I have failed too. They have recently reached out to the Cabinet Office again, but have not received a response,” she said.

Arminka Helic, a Tory peer, expressed her frustration with the UK government's response in the House of Lords. Photo: UK Parliament
Arminka Helic, a Tory peer, expressed her frustration with the UK government's response in the House of Lords. Photo: UK Parliament

The plan would require the Home Office to “expedite” medical visas to bring a small number of children in need of urgent, highly specialised care for treatment. It has the backing of major UK hospitals, including the Great Ormond Street children’s hospital, according to PPH.

Children evacuated for medical treatment from Gaza to Egypt or Jordan have so far gone to the UAE, Qatar, Italy, Spain, Ireland and the United States, among other countries, for treatment.

Campaigners stress that they are not looking for the government to establish a special scheme, but simply to fast-track the medical applications that they put forward. Aid agencies are reluctant to make the lengthy and costly visa applications to the UK, with no assurances that they will go through in a timely manner.

In December it emerged that an orphaned four-year-old boy who had lost both of his legs had been denied a medical visa for treatment in the UK, and 50 MPs signed a letter urging the government to do more to take in injured Palestinian children. One injured teenager from Gaza, who lost both his parents in an air strike, was given a visa to live in the UK under the Conservative government in June last year.

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Financial considerations before buying a property

Buyers should try to pay as much in cash as possible for a property, limiting the mortgage value to as little as they can afford. This means they not only pay less in interest but their monthly costs are also reduced. Ideally, the monthly mortgage payment should not exceed 20 per cent of the purchaser’s total household income, says Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching.

“If it’s a rental property, plan for the property to have periods when it does not have a tenant. Ensure you have enough cash set aside to pay the mortgage and other costs during these periods, ideally at least six months,” she says. 

Also, shop around for the best mortgage interest rate. Understand the terms and conditions, especially what happens after any introductory periods, Ms Glynn adds.

Using a good mortgage broker is worth the investment to obtain the best rate available for a buyer’s needs and circumstances. A good mortgage broker will help the buyer understand the terms and conditions of the mortgage and make the purchasing process efficient and easier. 

Credits

Produced by: Colour Yellow Productions and Eros Now
Director: Mudassar Aziz
Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Piyush Mishra, Diana Penty, Aparshakti Khurrana
Star rating: 2.5/5

Abu Dhabi traffic facts

Drivers in Abu Dhabi spend 10 per cent longer in congested conditions than they would on a free-flowing road

The highest volume of traffic on the roads is found between 7am and 8am on a Sunday.

Travelling before 7am on a Sunday could save up to four hours per year on a 30-minute commute.

The day was the least congestion in Abu Dhabi in 2019 was Tuesday, August 13.

The highest levels of traffic were found on Sunday, November 10.

Drivers in Abu Dhabi lost 41 hours spent in traffic jams in rush hour during 2019

 

Results

International 4, United States 1

Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods (US) beat Marc Leishman and Joaquin Niemann (International) 4 and 3.

Adam Hadwin and Sungjae Im (International) beat Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay (US) 2 up.

Adam Scott and Byeong Hun An (International) beat Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau (US) 2 and 1.

Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan (International) beat Webb Simpson and Patrick Reed (US) 1 up.

Abraham Ancer and Louis Oosthuizen (International) beat Dustin Johnson and Gary Woodland (US) 4 and 3.

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Expert input

If you had all the money in the world, what’s the one sneaker you would buy or create?

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UK’s AI plan
  • AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
  • £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
  • £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
  • £250m to train new AI models
The past Palme d'Or winners

2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda

2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund

2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach

2015 DheepanJacques Audiard

2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan

2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux

2012 Amour, Michael Haneke

2011 The Tree of LifeTerrence Malick

2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul

2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke

2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?

1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull

2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight

3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge

4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own

5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed

Martin Sabbagh profile

Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East

In the role: Since January 2015

Lives: In the UAE

Background: M&A, investment banking

Studied: Corporate finance

Squad

Ali Kasheif, Salim Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdulrahman, Mohammed Al Attas, Abdullah Ramadan, Zayed Al Ameri (Al Jazira), Mohammed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammed Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Essa, Mohammed Shaker, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah) Walid Abbas, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli), Tariq Ahmed, Jasim Yaqoub (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Muharami (Baniyas) 

TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER

Directed by: Michael Fimognari

Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo

Two stars

The biog

Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha

Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Holiday destination: Sri Lanka

First car: VW Golf

Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters

Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars

Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series

All matches at the Harare Sports Club:

1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10

2nd ODI, Friday, April 12

3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14

4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16

UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed

Updated: January 22, 2025, 7:47 AM