Turkish health minister welcomes 3 injured children evacuated from Gaza

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

ANKARA (AA) — Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca on Thursday welcomed three injured children evacuated from the Gaza Strip as they arrived in Türkiye for treatment.

The children were brought to Türkiye on an ambulance plane, which took off from El Arish International Airport in northeastern Egypt at 2 p.m. local time (1200GMT).

Koca welcomed them and their companions at Esenboga Airport in the Turkish capital Ankara.

He said the three children had exited the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border gate, adding that they were two, nine, and 10 years old.

On the group to be evacuated out of the blockaded enclave, which has been pummeled for weeks by Israeli airstrikes and a ground offensive, Koca said: "We expect the third batch of evacuation to happen tomorrow and it will be an evacuation consisting mainly of children and young people."

Pointing out that dozens of patients brought from Gaza were receiving treatment in Ankara, he said five of these were under intensive care.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip following a surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.

The number of people killed in Israeli air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since then has risen to 14,532, including over 6,000 children and 4,000 women, the media office in the besieged enclave said Wednesday.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar