Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to establish a medical evacuation scheme for seriously (a) ill and (b) injured children from Gaza; and what assessment he has made of the (i) capacity for treatment in (A) Gaza and (B) the wider region and (ii) potential implications for his policies of the statement by the British Ambassador to Egypt of 5 May.

There are many people in need of urgent medical care in Gaza, where the UN reports all hospitals have been damaged or partly destroyed. Countries in the region, particularly Egypt, play a vital role treating high numbers of medially evacuated Gazans, but capacity is stretched. We recently announced a £7.5 million package to strengthen medical care in Gaza and the region, including additional funding for UK-Med and World Health Organization (WHO) Egypt. Our funding has provided 1.3 million items of life-saving medicines and enabled UK-Med to support over 500,000 patient consultations across Gaza. We consistently press the Government of Israel to allow access to essential healthcare and to ensure the protection of medical workers. The Prime Minister confirmed the UK will urgently accelerate efforts to medically evacuate critically ill and injured children from Gaza, working with the WHO and others to get these children to the UK so they get the treatment they need.