Medical Evacuation of Children in Gaza

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  The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP

  Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom

  The Rt Hon James Murray MP

  Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

  The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP

  Secretary of State for the Home Department

                                                                                                                                 22nd May 2026

  Dear Secretaries of State,

  RE: Medical Evacuation of Children in Gaza

  We write to you as a cross-party group of MPs to urge you to reopen and scale up the UK’s medical evacuation programme for patients from Gaza, particularly children.

  The war has devastated Gaza’s health sector. Hospitals have been decimated, essential medicines and medical equipment are in short supply, and critical services including oncology, advanced trauma care, cardiac treatment and neurology are largely unavailable. Ongoing restrictions on the entry of supplies continue to exacerbate shortages.

  As a result, thousands of critically ill patients in Gaza have no viable pathway to life‑saving treatment, nor is there any realistic prospect that this will change in the near future.

  Over 18,500 patients, including approximately 4,000 children, are estimated by the World Health Organization and Gaza’s Ministry of Health to require urgent medical evacuation. Both organisations warn that the true number is likely to be significantly higher due to mass displacement, poor documentation, and severely restricted access to functioning hospitals. Between July 2024 and March 2026, at least 1,092 patients died while waiting for evacuation, an average of 65 preventable deaths every month.

  While we acknowledge the medical evacuation of 51 children for treatment in the UK last autumn, this figure remains vanishingly small when set against the scale of need, which continues to grow as conditions in Gaza further deteriorate.

  Since October 2025, only 793 patients have been evacuated, compared with 1,700 during the much shorter January–March 2025 ceasefire. Following recent regional escalations, medical evacuations are again suspended entirely, leaving thousands in limbo as their conditions deteriorate. The burden of responding to this crisis has fallen overwhelmingly on a small number of regional states. Egypt, Jordan and the UAE have received 84% of evacuated patients. The regional countries have the expertise, but the needs outstrip any possible capacity to treat those who need it. The UK has the clinical capacity, expertise and moral obligation to do more.

  Gaza’s health system cannot be rebuilt overnight, and critically ill patients cannot afford to wait.

  We therefore urge you to reopen the UK’s medical evacuation pathway from Gaza without delay, working with international partners to ensure evacuations are predictable, scaled up, and delivered at pace.

  Yours sincerely,

  Dr Simon Opher MP

  Dr Peter Prinsley MP

  Dr Scott Arthur MP

  Patricia Ferguson MP

  Anneliese Dodds MP

  Lee Dillon MP

  Alex Sobel MP

  James Naish MP

  Peter Lamb MP

  Kirsteen Sullivan MP

  Zarah Sultana MP

  Chris Hinchcliff MP

  Clive Lewis MP

  Susan Murray MP

  Steve Darling MP

  Ian Sollom MP

  Layla Moran MP

  Colum Eastwood MP

  Grahame Morris MP

  Andy McDonald MP

  Ben Lake MP

   Liz Saville Roberts MP

  Ann Davies  MP

  Llinos Medi MP

  Afzal Khan MP

  Tris Osborne MP

  Nadia Whittome MP

  Cat Smith MP

  Lorraine Beavers MP

  Martin Rhodes MP

  Iqbal Mohamed MP

  Cat Eccles MP

  Ian Roome MP

  Ian Byrne MP

  Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP

  Claire Hanna MP

  Marsha de Cordova MP

  Jeremy Corbyn MP

  Rachael Maskell MP

  Diane Abbott MP

  John McDonnell MP

  Andrew George MP

  Mary Glindon MP

  Apsana Begum MP

  Neil Duncan-Jordan MP

  Kim Johnson MP

  Paula Barker MP

  Torcuil Crichton MP

  Órfhlaith Begley MP

  Pat Cullen MP

  John Finucane MP

  Chris Hazzad MP

  Dáire Hughes MP

  Cathal Mallaghan MP

  Paul Maskey MP

  Tom Gordon MP

  Shockat Adam MP

  Alison Hume MP

  Lizzi Collinge MP

  Imran Hussain MP

  Chris Murray MP

  Andrew Slaughter MP

  Kate Osborne MP

  Brian Leishman MP

  Vikki Slade MP

  Uma Kamaran MP

  Graham Leadbitter MP

  Brendan O’Hara MP

  Tracy Gilbert MP

  Emma Lewell MP

  Sarah Champion MP

  Lee Barron MP

  Rupa Huq MP

  Ben Maguire MP

  Bambos Charalambous MP

  Rosie Duffield MP

  Hannah Spencer MP

  Adrian Ramsay MP

  Ellie Chowns MP

  Sian Berry MP

  Carla Denyer MP

  Jas Athwal MP

  Dr Beccy Cooper MP

  Manuela Perteghella MP

  Brian Mathew MP

  Monica Harding MP

  Matt Western MP

  Joe Morris MP

  Roz Savage MP

  Cameron Thomas MP

  Abtisam Mohamed MP

  Richard Burgon MP

  Stella Creasy MP

  Ian Lavery MP

  Yasmin Qureshi MP

  Josh Babarinde MP

  Tahir Ali MP

  Debbie Abrahams MP

  Steve Witherden MP

  Clive Efford MP

  Warinder Juss MP

  Alison Bennett MP

  Liz Jarvis MP