The British government is facing a legal challenge over its refusal to medically evacuate critically ill children from Gaza, a move campaigners say sharply contrasts with the UK's response in other global conflicts. According to The Guardian, the action was filed on behalf of three children in Gaza against both the Foreign Office and the Home Office. The legal complaint argues that ministers failed to adequately consider the desperate lack of medical care in the war-torn enclave before denying evacuation requests. The case also highlights what lawyers describe as a double standard, noting that the UK facilitated medical evacuations during the Bosnian war in the 1990s and amid the current conflict in Ukraine. Carolin Ott, a solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day, which is leading the legal challenge, said: "The UK government has explained its failure to facilitate medical evacuations from Gaza on the basis that it supports treatment options in Gaza and the surrounding region and that there are visas available for privately funded medical treatment in the UK. However, these mechanisms are profoundly inadequate to meet the urgent needs of children in Gaza." Campaigners are calling on the UK to establish a government-funded immigration pathway specifically for emergency medical evacuations. While two children from Gaza were admitted to the UK for urgent care in May through the charity Project Pure Hope, this remains the only such case to date—and it was entirely privately funded. The charity reportedly requested a Gaza-to-UK pathway funded by the British government, but the proposal was rejected. To date, the UK has not offered to serve as a receiving country for medical evacuations from Gaza. The legal filing asserts that continued inaction by British ministers is leaving critically ill Palestinian children without life-saving care. Neither the Foreign Office nor the Home Office has responded publicly to the legal action. — Agencies
