The first of approximately 30 Gazan children will receive medical care in Ireland within “the coming weeks” under plans set out by the Health Minister.
Stephen Donnelly will seek Government approval for the plans on Wednesday.
Mr Donnelly said Ireland would be providing care for 30 “very sick children” who need complex care, some of whom may have been injured by attacks or can no longer be treated in Gaza for underlying health issues as their hospital has been destroyed.
He thanked Irish healthcare professionals and the Irish Red Cross, who have been “working behind the scenes for quite some time” on the proposals.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Donnelly said Ireland was responding to a request from the World Health Organisation regarding the care of the children, whom Egyptian health authorities needed assistance with.
He said: “It is a modest step, obviously in the scale of the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men.
“But it is an important step and another way Ireland is playing a role in [responding to] this horrific conflict.”
Mr Donnelly said the scheme will run on a “child-by-child” basis.
He said all of the 30 children are expected to begin to be treated and accommodated by the end of the year.
“We will assess how it has worked out for the children and the parent or guardian that has come with them, with the view to potentially doing more.”
The Irish Red Cross is to provide accommodation for the children across the country.
Asked what the post-care plan for the children was, Mr Donnelly said they would be “fully entitled” to apply for international protection.
He said: “We all know that in some of these cases some of these children, their homes, their villages, their towns, have been levelled by the Israeli military forces, so there may well be people who have nowhere to go back to.”
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said: “We would hope they would be in a position to go back to an area that would have a ceasefire in place.
“We would not be putting them back into harm’s way immediately or anything like that.”
It is reported that the plan will not allow for orthopaedic patients, due to domestic waiting list pressures in the area.
