The number of people in Gaza who had one or more limbs amputated was estimated as between 5,000 and 6,000 as at October 2025. Over half of that number are children. Gaza has the largest number of child amputees ever recorded in modern history.

Israel has severely limited medical supplies getting in which means that surgeons are operating on patients – on children – removing limbs – without anaesthetics.

The numbers of doctors and medical workers killed in Israel’s Gaza Genocide is staggering. It is also a war crime. International doctors have been denied entry to the enclave. Most of the medical infrastructure has been destroyed, however, medics carry on as best they can.

In September 2025 the BBC reported:

“One Australian medic volunteering at al-Shifa hospital told the BBC that every day was a mass casualty event, while another described how a baby had been saved from the body of a pregnant woman who had been killed.”

Click on this link to find out about Medical Aid for Palestinians including how to donate to their work.

On July 29 the Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot حسام زملط thanked Scotland’s “First Minister John Swinney, the people and government of Scotland for the support for Palestine and for the help, care and love they provided to the Palestinian students and wounded children who arrived from Gaza.”

Scotland has contributed additional funding towards humanitarian aid for Palestine.

‘Scotland will continue to proudly stand with the people of Palestine.’ – FM John Swinney

In September 2025 two critically ill children were permitted to leave Gaza to receive medical treatment in Scotland. At the end of July of that year the then Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, announced that the UK would medically evacuate Gazan children for treatment in the UK. The UK worked with the World Health Organisation on the medical evacuation. In total  ten children were medically evacuated along with 50 companions during this phase.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that “Very few countries are willing to accept patients from Gaza, and those that do often impose strict “shopping list” criteria that must be met….Adults and elderly patients are frequently denied evacuation, and the paperwork, security checks, and medical reviews create even further delays.”

In October 2025 4 families from Gaza arrived in Scotland with several children and one parent receiving medical treatment. In a series of documents released under a Freedom of Information request and published by the Scottish Government it was stated in one email:

“The mental health needs of those arriving are significant, the trauma experienced is visible and beyond what resettlement teams are used to seeing due to the rapid nature of the evacuation. “

By November 2025 Scotland had supported 53 people, 10 families in total received medical treatment . Scotland also offered to accommodate an additional 10 families as a minimum and was continuing to work with the UK Government on future evacuations.

On 24 June 2026, Yvette Cooper, at the time the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs, confirmed that medical evacuations to the UK from Gaza would start up again after a significant pause (50 children and their families had been supported so far).

And she said:

“Individuals arriving under this scheme will be granted temporary permission to stay in the UK, including access to appropriate healthcare and support. All arrivals will be subject to stringent security screening, including biometric checks, in line with standard requirements to protect the public.”

“Together, these measures demonstrate the Government’s continued commitment to providing immediate humanitarian assistance, while supporting the longer-term resilience and recovery of Palestinian society through education and healthcare.”

On July 27 this year during his visit to the UK, the Palestinian Ambassador and the First Minister of Scotland met some of the Palestinian children and their carers who arrived in Scotland from Gaza to receive medical care.

Thousands are requiring medical care in Gaza where the infrastructure has been decimated and the medical professionals slaughtered during the Genocide.

In Orkney, islanders will again be holding a vigil for Gaza, as they have been doing since the end of October 2023. The vigil will take place on Saturday, 1 August, between 1 and 2pm on the Kirk Green, Broad Street, Kirkwall. The Vigil is calling for ‘Peace, Justice, and the Unhindered Delivery of Humanitarian Aid.’ There is a welcome to anyone who wishes to join them in this call.

Every week The Orkney News documents the vigils. Here is the latest video:

Fiona Grahame