SENIOR MPs today joined campaigners in calling for urgent action to get traumatised kids and trapped Brits out of Gaza.
The Rafah crossing into Egypt finally opened yesterday for the first time since the war began — offering a glimmer of hope.
Senior MPs today joined campaigners in calling for urgent action to get traumatised kids and trapped Brits out of GazaAlamy
A mother and her child wait at Gaza’s Rafah crossing, with the opening of the border point with Egypt yesterday offering a glimmer of hopeAFP via Getty
But only a trickle of people were allowed through — around 800 in the first 48 hours — leaving many badly injured Palestinian kids still trapped as war raged around them.
And only a small number of the 200 British nationals stuck in Gaza have managed to make the crossing so far.
After a phone call with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, PM Rishi Sunak called for Egypt to also get UK citizens out.
Tory MP Bob Seely, who sits on the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, insisted: “Children should not be trapped.
“There is no conceivable way on earth that kids can be combatants or should be around combatants.
“There is no conceivable reason why they should be prevented from being escorted to safety through the Rafah crossing.”
Former Labour MP Lord Austin said: “Egypt should absolutely allow children in Gaza to leave for safety.
“Amid the Arab world’s blustering condemnations of Israel and declarations of solidarity with the people of Gaza over the past week, this would be a genuine act of support for vulnerable civilians being intentionally put in harm’s way by Hamas terrorists.”
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly told The Sun: “Children were victims of Hamas’s terrorist atrocities on October 7, either brutally murdered or kidnapped.
“Children are among the innocent civilian population within which Hamas routinely, historically and callously hide and fight.
“We have and will continue to urge the protection of children and every measure to avoid civilian casualties, whilst striving to send humanitarian aid to adults and children on the ground in Gaza.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to discuss “concrete steps” that Israel should take to reduce harm to civilians.
Foreign Office officials said a full list of names of British nationals and dependants had been handed over to help with processing.
One official said: “We continue to press at the most senior levels for British nationals to be able to cross as soon as is practically possible.”
Labour’s Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy told The Sun: “The most heart-breaking part of this conflict is that so many children have been its victims.
“It is gut-wrenching to watch images of Palestinian children being pulled from the rubble and know Israeli children are still being cruelly kept as hostages.
A wounded child in agony being held by a medic in RafahXinhua News Agency
“Children bear no responsibility for conflict and protecting them must be the priority.
“It’s very welcome that the Rafah crossing has begun opening for some injured Palestinians requiring hospital treatment and hundreds of foreign passport holders.
“The Government must work with countries in the region to provide medical treatment for Palestinian children as urgently as possible.
“Those children still in Gaza must be protected by humanitarian corridors and pauses in the fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes.
“It’s not enough to show these children sympathy. Both sides of this conflict, and the international community, must urgently act.”
Many Palestinian parents are desperate to flee the clutches of terror group Hamas’s brutal Islamist control — and the war it has triggered.
One mum of four trapped inside the besieged enclave told how Hamas had made life hell for families, as she backed calls for kids and their parents to be allowed to make it to safety.
She explained: ”Hamas recruits children from the age of 12 and teaches them how to use weapons, attack the enemy and dig tunnels.
“They are taught their version of Islamic dogma and are taught to hate.
“We as mothers have lost the ability to teach our own values to children because our children have been brainwashed.
“Hamas also uses children as human shields. It is a group that recruits children and kills them in cold blood.”
Her plea was smuggled out of Gaza via New York-based non-profit group The Center for Peace Communications, which has been working with critics of the regime in the Strip.
She cannot be named for fear of retribution from Hamas thugs — anyone found publicly criticising the hardliners faces the ultimate punishment.
With kids waiting on the border, one anonymous Palestinian mum shares her story on how she and many other families are desperate to leaveAPAImages / Polaris
Calls to help the children of Gaza come a day after The Sun highlighted the plight of the 32 youngsters taken hostage by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and hauled to the Strip.
We published the names and photos of all 32 and echoed their desperate families’ plea: “Bring them home.”
Our front page had a huge impact in Israel and was posted online by a host of celebs.
TV host Assi Azar posted it to his one million Instagram followers and Channel 14 — one of the country’s biggest TV channels — included it in its news bulletins.
An unknown number of Brits crossed into Egypt yesterday as the Government scrambled teams to the Middle East to support them as they finally fled the war-ravaged enclave.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We can confirm that more British nationals have been able to cross into Egypt from Gaza via the Rafah crossing today.
“We continue to work with Egyptian and Israeli authorities to support all those seeking to leave in the coming days.”
More people in the Gaza Strip walk though a gate to the border crossing into EgyptAPAImages / Polaris
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