The group included severely wounded and ill children Sanad Al Arabi, Aya Adham Kullab, and Rasha Alwan.

Qatar has evacuated the 23rd group of wounded Palestinians from Gaza to Doha on Saturday as part of Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s initiative to treat those wounded by Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on the Strip.

The Gulf state’s foreign ministry confirmed the latest evacuation in an online statement, noting that the evacuations included those with a Qatari ID.

Lolwah Al-Khater, Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, welcomed the latest group upon their arrival.

“The initiative of treating the injured Palestinians comes within the unwavering support of the State of Qatar and its steadfast efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian brothers in the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the current humanitarian conditions,” Doha’s foreign ministry said.

In a post on X, Al-Khater confirmed that the group included severely wounded and ill children Sanad Al Arabi, Aya Adham Kullab, and Rasha Alwan.

One-year-old Sanad’s story went viral after Israel killed 10 of his family members and left him with 200 internal and external stitches on his face. The child’s left hand has been amputated and part of his tongue was cut off.

The story of Aya, who is less than two years old, also went viral when her family put out a public call for her evacuation to treat a large hematoma under her right cheek. 

Her family said that the tumour gradually grew in size over time and she suffered from a lack of sleep due to breathing difficulties.

Describing Aya, Al-Khater said she was a “happy child despite all the circumstances.”

“Whenever we gave her some sweets, she laughed from the depths of her heart until she stole all of our hearts,” Al-Khater said in a post on X on Saturday.

As for Rasha, she suffered from severe malnutrition and desperately needed to travel for treatment.

“It is painful what we see of countless cases of limb amputations among children and young people in their prime that could have been avoided only by providing antibiotics, and it is shameful what we see of inability and complicity to continue this genocide,” Al-Khater said.

Sheikh Tamim announced the initiative on December 3, 2023, to sponsor 3,000 orphans and treat 1,500 injured Palestinians from the Strip. 

Qatar has evacuated more than 1,500 people from Gaza and hosted them in a compound where they are receiving holistic care.

Gaza’s ongoing humanitarian catastrophe

The vital Qatari humanitarian efforts in Gaza come amid Israel’s relentless war that has killed at least 34,388 people and displaced more than 80 percent of the population.

The Israeli genocidal war has left Gaza with 11 partially operating hospitals out of an initial 36, including the Al-Shifa Medical Complex—the largest in the Strip and one of the biggest facilities in Palestine.

Israeli occupation forces raided the hospital last month for two consecutive weeks, where they detained hundreds of Palestinians and killed hundreds of others, including medics, patients and displaced people.

The occupation forces reduced the hospital to ashes before completely withdrawing from the site, leaving behind a mass grave that continues to be unveiled by civilians on the ground.

Euro-Med had discovered the first such mass grave between 12-14 November 2023 following the first raid of the hospital. 

It then discovered a second mass grave between 18 March and 1 April following the second raid.

During the first time, the watchdog found 179 bodies whereas it found at least 30 other bodies the second time, some that have been maimed and showed evidence of torture.

Under Israel’s efforts to deprive Palestinians of life-saving assistance, occupation forces killed 491 health workers, 252 aid workers, 183 United Nations staff, and 27 Palestinian Red Crescent members, according to the UN’s latest flash update on Friday.

Israel has also deprived Gaza’s 2.2 million population of basic resources under the complete blockade and chokehold over the delivery of aid, a clear violation of international law and the International Court of Justice’s provisions.

Less than 200 trucks have been entering Gaza daily and none contain fuel due to Israel’s restrictions on the type of aid that enters. The total number of trucks is significantly less than the pre-war daily average of 500 through the Rafah Crossing alone.

Instead, aid has been stacking up in neighbouring Egypt, some would have already expired by the time it reaches Gaza.

The horrors reported only show a glimpse of the entire suffering of Palestinians in Gaza which has only worsened for nearly seven months straight. 

Children have been witnessing the ongoing brutality firsthand, including the killings of their family members.

At least 17,000 children have been unaccompanied or separated from their parents in Gaza since the beginning of the war. A total of one million children, more than half of Gaza’s population, require mental health and psycho-social support, according to the UN’s flash update.

Gaza’s stalled ceasefire talks

Meanwhile, Qatar and Egypt have continued diplomatic efforts in hopes of reaching a deal in Gaza that would halt the war and release the remaining captives from Hamas.

On Saturday, Hamas’s deputy chief Khalil Al-Hayya confirmed that the group received Israel’s response to its proposal, which it had submitted to the mediators on April 13.

In a statement, Al-Hayya said Hamas will announce its position upon reviewing the Israeli response.

On Friday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he saw momentum in the talks, without elaborating on the matter.

An Egyptian delegation had arrived in Tel Aviv on the same day in another push for a deal, Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported at the time.

An Egyptian security source told the outlet that there is notable progress in bridging the differences between Israel and Hamas. Egypt presented a proposal entailing the release of 33 captives, including women, the elderly and infirm.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been warning of invading Rafah if the sides fail to reach an agreement.

The talks have stalled since last year’s truce expired. Mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the truce lasted between November 24 and December 1 and led to the release of at least 109 captives from Hamas in Gaza.