Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Delays Evacuation Of Sick Palestinian Children From Gaza To The UAE

Illustration of Palestinian children being treated. (Wikimedia Commons/Edi Israel)

JAKARTA - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed the evacuation of 150 sick and injured Palestinian children from the Gaza Strip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for treatment, Israeli media reported Sunday.

"A group of sick children from Gaza should have left for the UAE via Israel tomorrow (Monday), but after the Majdal Shams incident, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the postponement of their departure," the government-run broadcast authority said. July 29.

Citing The Times of Israel from Kan, the delay follows Hezbollah's attack on the Golah Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers.

Furthermore, PM Netanyahu decided to postpone the children's departure through Israel's Ramon Air Base.

There has been no comment from the UAE on this issue. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office also did not provide an immediate response.

Kan said the children would be flown on Monday afternoon local time from Ramon Air Base.

Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier this month vetoed the decision of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to treat Gazan children at a field hospital near the Israel-Gaza border.

Defense Minister Gallant said the field hospital he wanted to establish in Israel was to address the lack of movement between Gaza and Egypt due to the closure of the Rafah crossing previously used by Gazans to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Meanwhile, doctors for Human Rights have indicated Israel had previously postponed or canceled the implementation of such evacuations before, quoted from WAFA.

Sources of information spoke of a possible plane carrying 250 sick and injured taking off from the Gaza Strip to the UAE during this week.

Sources in Gaza have confirmed that those requiring treatment are at least 100 times that amount, recording 25,000 patients requiring relocation and having to travel abroad, indicating the number of sick and injured people who have left the Gaza Strip since the start of the aggression has reached only 5,000 people.

Doctors for Human Rights and other human rights organizations filed a petition to Israel's Supreme Court last June demanding that patients and injured people who face life-threatening dangers be allowed to leave the Gaza Strip to receive the necessary treatment.