Turkish ambulance plane brings 3 wounded Gaza children to Ankara

By Burcu Calik Gocumlu, Muhammed Nuri Erdogan and Yesim Sert Karaaslan

A Turkish ambulance plane carrying three wounded children from Gaza landed Thursday at Türkiye’s Ankara Esenboga Airport.

The plane, which belongs to the Turkish Health Ministry, took off from Al-Arish Airport in Egypt at 2 p.m. local time (1200GMT).

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca welcomed the children and their companions at the airport.

He also met with health officials on the plane and attended to the wounded children and assisted in the process of getting them into ambulances.

Koca said the three wounded children were outside the previously announced evacuation group of 50 people.

- Third evacuation expected tomorrow

Answering a question about the establishment of field hospitals for the wounded in Gaza, Koca said: “A team formed with Israel, Egypt and Türkiye's coordination is in Egypt, especially to conduct field work.”

“We are at the stage of determining the location for this. We want to take action as soon as possible."

Koca provided some details on the planned evacuation.

"We expect the third evacuation to be tomorrow, and it will mainly consist of children and young people."

He said there are currently 88 Gazans undergoing treatment in Ankara.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas from Istanbul