A classroom of children dies every day in Gaza. Twenty-eight children lost daily to starvation and violence. Yet since the war started in October 2023, only 80 children have been granted visas to come to the UK through humanitarian routes. By contrast, 52,900 children from Ukraine arrived in the UK on emergency visas in around the first 18 months after Russia’s invasion.
The UN confirmed last week what we have long known to be true: there is a famine in Gaza. The 320,000 children under the age of five in the territory are at risk of acute malnutrition, a crisis compounded by the collapse of essential services, water, electricity and healthcare.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer recently spoke about the “catastrophic failure of aid”, citing images of “starving babies [and] children too weak to stand”, which “will stay with us for a lifetime”. Yet his government’s actions so far barely scratch the surface of what is needed.
