Two children from Gaza enter UK for specialist medical care for first time after months of struggle

1 May 2025, 00:03 | Updated: 1 May 2025, 03:35

It was a welcome party of sorts, and it was assembled near arrivals at Heathrow's Terminal 5.

A few people clutched flowers, others brought presents, while everyone carried a sense of relief.

Two children from Gaza had been given permission to enter Britain for specialist medical care and the pair would arrive on the evening flight from Cairo.

It was a significant moment - the first time UK visas had been granted to children from this war-ravaged enclave - and the product of months of struggle by a small group of British volunteers.

As those in attendance offered up a cheer, a five-year-old called Ghena Abed emerged shyly from behind the security gates. With fluid pressing on her optic nerve, she needs urgent treatment to save the vision in her left eye.

Also in this party was a 12-year-old girl called Rama Qudiah. She is weak and malnourished and suffers from incontinence. Medics think she requires an operation on her bowel.

Her mother, Rana, told us their arrival in Britian "is just a like a dream".

Her daughter has certainly been fortunate. A small number of children from Gaza have benefited from medical evacuations, with the majority receiving care in countries in the Middle East, Europe, as well as the United States.

In March, the Israelis signed a deal with Jordan which could allow 2,000 children to leave the enclave for treatment of war injuries and conditions like cancer. However, just 29 were allowed to go at first instance.

The process has not been easy

Until now, not a single child from Gaza has entered the UK for medical care since the start of the current conflict, and the process has not been an easy one for the volunteers at Project Pure Hope.

They told Sky News it has taken 17 months to arrange temporary visas for Ghena and Rama.

"A lot of us are health care workers and I think it's in our DNA that when we see people who are suffering, particularly children, we want to try and do something and that's what motivated us," says Dr Farzana Rahman from Project Pure Hope.

When asked why she thinks it has taken so much time to secure their visas, Dr Rahman said: "I don't know."

Group argues it has no time to lose to help other children

But it is clear the arrival of children from Gaza is an issue of sensitivity. The British volunteers told us on a number of occasions that all costs would be met by private sources. The children will return to Gaza when the treatment is completed.

Project Pure Hope is not finished, however - group members have drawn up a list of other children they can help, and argue they have no time to lose.

"One of the hardest parts of trying to make progress in this area is that delays cost lives. A number of children have died who we haven't been able to help and this is an urgent situation and I think for all of us that's the hardest part," says Dr Rahman.

(c) Sky News 2025: Two children from Gaza enter UK for specialist medical care for first time after months of struggle