Pakistan announces scholarships for Palestinian medical students amid Israel's attacks on Gaza

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan will provide scholarships for Palestinian medical students from war-torn Gaza to continue their education in the South Asian country, the Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.

The decision was made on the directions of Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), the country's regulatory body for medical education, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news conference in the capital Islamabad.

Palestinian students from Gaza will soon enroll in medical colleges in Pakistan in batches of 20-30, she added.

However, she did not specify how many students would be admitted to Pakistani medical colleges.

Al-Khidmat Foundation, one of the country's largest relief organizations, and International Rafah University Islamabad will offer scholarships to 100 medical students from Gaza to continue their education in Pakistan.

The foundation and the university signed an agreement with the Palestine Embassy in Islamabad last month.

The Al-Khidmat Foundation has already worked with Turkish and Egyptian relief agencies in Egypt and Gaza.

"The decision will enable Gaza students to complete their medical education in Pakistan in the fields of cardiology, orthopaedics, oncology, paediatrics and surgery to address the critical needs in Gaza’s health care system," Baloch said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), last week, reported that over 625,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have been deprived of education since the start of the Israeli onslaught on the besieged enclave on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.