More children from Gaza arrive in Switzerland

51 people are accompanying the minors, as the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced on Friday evening. The children and their relatives were transported by plane from Amman to Switzerland on Friday afternoon as part of an agreement with the Norwegian authorities. The flight was accompanied by the Swiss Federal Air Transport Service.

The children were taken from Zurich and Geneva airports to hospitals in the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Fribourg, Geneva, Graubünden, Jura, Ticino, Vaud and Valais, according to the SEM. All of the injured children require specific medical treatment that can no longer be provided in the Gaza Strip.

According to the SEM, the cantons included in the process had promised to provide accommodation, support and healthcare for the people assigned to them. Allocation to the cantons and hospitals was based on medical criteria. If the treatment costs were not covered by compulsory health insurance, the host cantons or hospitals would cover them themselves.

Ordinary asylum procedure

The humanitarian operation began last Monday with the evacuation of the injured children from the Gaza Strip to Jordan. There they were cared for and stabilized and prepared for onward transport to Switzerland. Before entering Switzerland, all evacuees underwent a comprehensive security check by Switzerland and Israel, the SEM added. In Switzerland, they will undergo an ordinary asylum procedure.

At the end of October, Switzerland had already taken in seven children from the war zone. As part of the humanitarian operation, Switzerland has now evacuated a total of 20 injured children and 78 accompanying persons from the Gaza Strip. With this second operation, Switzerland has completed its operation to evacuate injured children from the Gaza Strip.