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Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment

Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment
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Doctors fear Haitham, 3, may not survive after he was severely burned in an Israeli airstrike that killed his parents. (Screengrab)
Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment
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One-year-old Karam requires specialist surgery on his intestine which needs to be carried out outside of Gaza. (Screengrab)
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Updated 30 May 2025

Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment

Charity urges Starmer to allow 2 children from Gaza entry to UK for lifesaving treatment
  • Surgeon fears Haitham, 3, could die from severe burns from an Israeli airstrike if he remains in the territory
  • Project Pure Hope says UK govt should act to save the children after recently condemning Israel’s military campaign

LONDON: A medical charity has written to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pleading with him to allow two severely ill children from Gaza to be flown to the UK for lifesaving treatment.

One of the children, three-year-old Haitham, was badly burned when an Israeli airstrike hit the family home, killing his father and pregnant mother, .

He has been left with burns across 35 percent of his body and is being treated in Nasser hospital, the last working medical facility in southern Gaza.

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British surgeon Dr. Victoria Rose, who is treating Haitham, said she is worried he might not survive because the hospital no longer has the resources to look after him properly.

ā€œIt’s a massive burn for a little guy like this,ā€ Rose said. ā€œHe’s so adorable. His eyelids are burnt. His hands are burnt. His feet are burnt.ā€

Referring to the renewed violence in Gaza, she said: ā€œEvery time I come, I say it’s really bad, but this is on a completely different scale now. It’s mass casualties. It’s utter carnage.

ā€œWe are incapable of getting through this volume. We don’t have the personnel. We don’t have the medical supplies. And we really don’t have the facilities.

ā€œWe are the last standing hospital in the south of Gaza. We really are on our knees now.ā€

Haitham’s grandfather, Hatem Karara, said Haitham had also suffered internal bleeding.

He said: ā€œWhat did these children do wrong to suffer such injuries. To be burned and bombed? We ask God to grant them healing.ā€

The second child identified by the UK-based charity Project Pure HopeĢżis one-year-old Karam, who is suffering from a rare birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the bowel.

His protruding intestine could easily be operated on with the right skills and equipment available in the UK.

An initial operation was carried out in Rafah, but when his family was forced to flee to Khan Younis, Karam’s condition worsened, his mother Manal Nayef Mostafa Adra said.

She said a foreign doctor told her that the surgery needs to be redone outside of Gaza.

Omar Dinn, co-founder of Project Pure Hope, said the charity would fully fund bringing the children to the UK.

He said the UK government had made strong statements recently condemning Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the blocking of aid supplies, and now had the opportunity to act.

ā€œWe’re giving them an action, which is the ability to allow two more children to come to the UK for privately funded medical treatment and to save their lives,ā€ he said.

ā€œIf we don’t act for these two children now, it’s very likely that the outcome will be nothing but death.ā€

Two girls from Gaza with serious health conditions were flown to the UK earlier this month for specialist treatment. But only three Palestinian children have been allowed into the UK for healthcare since Israel launched its devastating offensive in Gaza 20 months ago.

Of the nearly 54,000 Palestinians killed in the war, 16,000 have been children.


Jordanian army foils infiltration attempt on northern border

Jordanian army foils infiltration attempt on northern border
Updated 4 sec ago

Jordanian army foils infiltration attempt on northern border

Jordanian army foils infiltration attempt on northern border
  • The Jordanian Armed Forces thwarted an attempt by an individual to illegally cross the country’s northern border, state news agency Petra reported on Wednesday

DUBAI: The Jordanian Armed Forces thwarted an attempt by an individual to illegally cross the country’s northern border, state news agency Petra reported on Wednesday. 
The suspect was apprehended and referred to the relevant authorities. The incident follows similar infiltration attempts last week on both the eastern and northern borders of the country.


Egyptian FM speaks to Iranian counterpart, IAEA director to promote regional stability

Egyptian FM speaks to Iranian counterpart, IAEA director to promote regional stability
Updated 7 sec ago

Egyptian FM speaks to Iranian counterpart, IAEA director to promote regional stability

Egyptian FM speaks to Iranian counterpart, IAEA director to promote regional stability

DUBAI: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty conducted several phone discussions with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi alongside Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the two phone calls held fall within Egypt’s sustained efforts to promote regional stability, reduce tensions, and support the resumption of negotiations on the Iranian nuclear file within a peaceful and diplomatic framework.

During his call with the Iranian foreign minister, Abdelatty emphasized the importance of adhering to diplomatic channels and reengaging with the IAEA, steps he noted are essential to restoring confidence and fostering a climate of security and stability in the region.


UAE president to visit Russia on Thursday

UAE president to visit Russia on Thursday
Updated 59 min 12 sec ago

UAE president to visit Russia on Thursday

UAE president to visit Russia on Thursday

DUBAI: UAE's President Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan is set to go on an official state visit to Russia on Thursday reported state news agency WAM.
During the visit, Al-Nahyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to discuss strategic partnership between the two countries and ways to enhance it, especially in the economic, trade, investment, energy and other fields.


Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel and another for planning IS group sabotage

Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel and another for planning IS group sabotage
Updated 06 August 2025

Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel and another for planning IS group sabotage

Iran executes man accused of spying for Israel and another for planning IS group sabotage
  • Iran has executed two men in separate cases, accusing one of spying for Israel and another of being a member of the Daesh group. State media says the two men were hanged Wednesday

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Iran executed two men in separate cases Wednesday, accusing one of spying for Israel and another of being a member of the Daesh group, state media reported.
A report by the judiciary news website Mizanonline identified the alleged spy as Rouzbeh Vadi, who was accused of relaying classified information to Israel’s intelligence service, the Mossad.
Authorities said Vadi provided information about an Iranian nuclear scientist who was killed during Israel’s June airstrikes on Iran, according to the report, which did not identifying the scientist or the time and place of Vadi’s arrest.
Vadi met the Mossad officers five times in Vienna, Austria, the report said.
Israel’s ambassador to France, Joshua Zarka, said in June that Israel’s 12-day war on Iran included targeted strikes that killed at least 14 physicists and engineers involved with Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran has hanged seven people for espionage during the conflict with Israel, sparking fears from activists that the government could conduct a wave of executions.
Iran separately hanged a member of Daesh group on Wednesday after he was convicted of plotting sabotage, Mizanonline reported.
Officials accused Mehdi Asgharzadeh of being a member of the Daesh group who participated in military training in Syria and Iraq before illegally entering Iran with a four-member team who were killed in a fight with Iranian security, the news site reported.
Authorities said Iran’s Supreme Court upheld the sentences of lower courts and followed full legal procedures before executing both men, Mizanonline reported.


End of era as Beirut renames Assad avenue after late music legend

End of era as Beirut renames Assad avenue after late music legend
Updated 06 August 2025

End of era as Beirut renames Assad avenue after late music legend

End of era as Beirut renames Assad avenue after late music legend
  • Lebanon has decided to rebaptise a thoroughfare named after former Syrian president Hafez Assad in favor of late Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbani

BEIRUT: Lebanon has decided to rebaptise a thoroughfare named after former Syrian president Hafez Assad in favor of late Lebanese musician and playwright Ziad Rahbani, a move many welcomed on Wednesday.
The decision marks the end of an era and a rupture with the authoritarian rule of former Syrian leaders Hafez Assad and his son Bashar — close allies of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group — who from Damascus held Lebanon in a stranglehold for almost three decades.
Islamist forces ousted Bashar Assad in December, ending five decades of one-family rule, further weakening Hezbollah after a war with Israel and helping to change the balance of power in Lebanon.
ā€œHafez Assad into the dustbin of history, Ziad Rahbani is the name of the airport road forever!ā€ independent lawmaker Mark Daou who opposes Hezbollah wrote on X.
The government on Tuesday announced the renaming of the avenue, which runs to the international airport through south Beirut, where Hezbollah enjoys strong support.
Lebanese actor Ziad Itani welcomed the move, telling AFP that the former Syrian leader was associated with ā€œdark periods in Lebanese history, marked by massacres, abuses and assassinations.ā€
The Syrian army entered Lebanon in 1976 as part of an Arab force that was supposed to put an end to the country’s civil war which began a year earlier.
Troops only withdrew in 2005 under enormous pressure after the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafic Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syria and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese army dismantled a number of monuments paying homage to the Assad family following the pullout.
The government announced the street’s name change as it said it had tasked the army with developing a plan to disarm Hezbollah by the end of the year, an unprecedented step since civil war factions gave up their weapons decades ago.
The road’s renaming ā€œis the decision that made me the happiest,ā€ said Hassan Roumani near the avenue.
ā€œEach time I passed along the Assad road, I felt like Hafez Assad and the Syrian army were still in Lebanon. Now psychologically I feel relieved — that period is over, and for the best,ā€ he told AFP.
Not all welcomed the renaming however, particularly Hezbollah supporters.
Faysal Abdelsater, an analyst close to the Iran-backed group, said the move was ā€œthe result of political maliceā€ and urged the local council to reject it.
Rahbani, son of iconic singer Fairuz, died last month aged 69 after a decades-long career that revolutionized the country’s artistic scene.