DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates said on Thursday it planned to treat 1,000 Palestinian children from Gaza, without saying how they would leave the Israeli-besieged enclave for the Gulf state.
Israel has tightened its blockade and bombarded Gaza for nearly four weeks in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack by Islamist Hamas that Israeli authorities say killed 1,400.
The Gaza health ministry says 8,796 Palestinian, including 3,648 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since Oct 7.
Gaza’s border with Egypt – the only exit point apart from the closed border crossings with Israel — has largely been shut since Oct. 7, although several hundred foreign nationals and a small number of injured Palestinians, to be treated in Egyptian hospitals, have crossed into Egypt since Wednesday.
Qatar brokered that deal to allow some people to leave Gaza, and a diplomatic source has said some 7,500 foreign passport holders would leave Gaza over the course of about two weeks.
UAE state news agency WAM reported President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan had directed hospitals to treat 1,000 Palestinian children “accompanied by their families” from Gaza.
It was not immediately clear whether those children and their families would be able to leave Gaza under the deal brokered by Qatar, which involved Israel and the United States.
The Emirati foreign ministry did not immediately respond to emailed questions on the UAE’s plans to provide treatment and host the Palestinians. Israel’s embassy in Abu Dhabi declined to comment.
WAM reported the Palestinian children would “return home” after they had received medical care.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, Editing by William Maclean)
