Care for Gaza children in Egypt close to loved ones, not Netherlands: Red Cross

The Red Cross is hesitant about the government’s proposal to bring injured children from Gaza to the Netherlands. In the radio program Met Het Oog op Morgen, Carla Jonkers, head of international emergency aid at the Dutch Red Cross, said on Monday evening that it is “absolutely” preferable to care for these children in Egypt, close to their loved ones and where caregivers understand their culture and language.

Outgoing health Minister Ernst Kuipers said earlier in the day that patients from the Gaza Strip could come to Dutch hospitals if requested. That should happen via humanitarian corridors. Jonkers noted that “such a request has not yet been made” but added that the Red Cross has objections to it.

“My colleague visited the Egyptian border last weekend, and he also said that there is sufficient capacity in Egypt to accommodate injured children,” Jonkers said. The Red Cross prefers that solution to coming to the Netherlands “because caregivers can then travel with the children and stay there.” Egypt is also much closer to people from the Gaza Strip, also in terms of language and culture, Jonkers stressed. “It’s much easier than nursing people much further away.”

In the radio program, Jonkers also outlined the current situation in the Gaza Strip. She spoke of a “horror scenario” based on eyewitness accounts from doctors in the area. “What we have been warning about for weeks is now true: hospitals are no longer operational.”

It’s “really terrible,” Jonkers said. “Bodies can no longer be buried because hospitals are surrounded. It is too dangerous to go outside. There are many dead people on the street. Doctors face impossible choices.”

According to the head of international emergency aid, there is a major shortage of basic necessities like water and food. But hospitals also lack the blood needed for surgeries and bandages for patients with burns, for example. According to Jonkers, “a lot” of people come in with burns who cannot be helped due to a lack of resources.