Seven injured children from Gaza and families travel to Switzerland for treatment

The children were transferred from the Gaza Strip to Jordan on Wednesday. They flew to Switzerland on Friday morning in four Rega and two Swiss military aircraft. Keystone-SDA

Seven injured Palestinian children from Gaza took off on Friday morning from Amman in Jordan for Switzerland. They are to be treated in Swiss hospitals, according to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM).

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The children were transferred from the Gaza Strip to Jordan on Wednesday. They flew to Switzerland on Friday morning in four Rega and two Swiss military aircraft. They are due to land at Zurich, Geneva and Lugano airports later on Friday.

The children are suffering from conflict-related injuries and need highly specialised medical care, said the SEM. They will be treated in the university and cantonal hospitals of Geneva, Vaud, Ticino, Basel City, Lucerne and St Gallen. Two children will be treated in St Gallen.

Federal government and cantons work together

This humanitarian operation has been prepared jointly by various departments of the Swiss federal government and the cantons. It is being carried out in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and the Swiss air rescue service Rega.

The children and the 27 family members accompanying them were subjected to a security check by the authorities before their departure for Switzerland, according to the SEM. An asylum procedure will be opened for all of them.

The accompanying persons will be accommodated in SEM or cantonal accommodation close to the hospitals where the children are being treated. Six cantons are involved in this first evacuation: Appenzell Outer Rhodes, Basel City, Geneva, Vaud, Lucerne and Ticino. The distribution of the host cantons was decided on the basis of medical criteria.

Transport was organised and financed by the Swiss foreign ministry. Hospitalisation costs will be covered by the cantons or hospitals if they are not covered by health insurance.

Second evacuation planned

Last month, Bern said that it wanted to take in around 20 children injured in Gaza. Several cantons said they were ready to take in the first seven injured children and their families.

Preparations are now underway for a second evacuation of 13 children and their parents. The WHO has registered a total of 15,000 people to be evacuated, 4,000 of whom are children. Many are seriously injured and need urgent medical treatment, notes the SEM.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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