JOHN Swinney has accused the UK Government of taking “too long to act” after it was confirmed that hundreds of children in Gaza could be evacuated for medical treatment.
On Sunday, it was revealed that up to 300 children could be brought to the UK for NHS treatment.
The First Minister welcomed the reported plans, having written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on July 9 urging such action to be taken.
Swinney said he regretted that the action did not come sooner.
“We have been consistently clear that the suffering being inflicted on the people of Gaza is beyond any justification. People in [[Gaza]] are being bombed and left to starve by Israel on a massive scale,” he said.
“I wrote to the Prime Minister on 9th July to request support from the UK Government in meeting the call from Unicef to provide medical care for children from [[Gaza]].
“If the UK Government is prepared to evacuate Palestinians for medical treatment it would be entirely welcome.
“My only regret is the UK Government has taken this long to act.
“I urge the UK Government to do everything in its power to move swiftly so that lives can be saved. And Scotland will play our part."
The evacuation plans are reportedly set to be announced within weeks.
A parent or guardian will accompany each child, as well as siblings if necessary, and the Home Office will carry out biometric and security checks before travel, the Sunday Times reported.
This will happen “in parallel” with an initiative by Project Pure Hope, a group set up to bring sick and injured Gazan children to the UK privately for treatment.
More than 50,000 children are estimated to have been killed or injured in Gaza since October 2023, according to Unicef.
Starmer said last week that the UK was “urgently accelerating” efforts to bring children over for treatment.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care.
“We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, with further details to be set out in due course.”
