Nearly 70 children evacuated from Gazan orphanage to West Bank, says official

RAMALLAH: Minister of Social Development, Ahmad Majdalani, said that ‘The Ministries of Social Development and Interior in Ramallah, in cooperation and coordination with the German government, helped transfer seventy orphan children from Rafah to the SOS International Children’s Villages international in Bethlehem, temporarily, until the end of the current war.’

“We will be able to return them to the institution in the city of Rafah.’

Majdalani explained during his meeting, in the city of Ramallah, with the head of the mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the State of Palestine, Ambassador Oliver Ovtscha that the occupation government tried to employ this step positively to its advantage in light of its killing of children and civilians.

He added that had it not been for German and international pressure on the occupation government, it would not have agreed to transfer these orphans to the West Bank, calling on the German government to exert more pressure on the occupation government to stop the
war of genocide and starvation against our people.

The Minister expressed his thanks to the German government, represented by its Foreign Minister, for the efforts made to remove these children from the state of danger to which they were exposed in the Gaza Strip as a result of the continuing Israeli aggression.

The charity, SOS Children’s Villages International, said it had worked ‘through diplomatic channels with all relevant authorities’ to arrange to move the children, who were orphaned before the current war, to its orphanage in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

More than a million Gazans have sought refuge in Rafah, many of them displaced previously and multiple times by Israeli military orders to move south for safety. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has for weeks vowed to push ahead with plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, prompting warnings from the United States and other allies, along with many aid groups, about the potential cost in civilian lives.

The 68 children were accompanie
d by 11 employees of SOS Children’s Villages and arrived in Bethlehem on Monday, the charity said.

‘Even though the children are now relatively safe, we are still very concerned about all the other children and people who are still in grave danger in the Gaza Strip,’ the organization said in a statement, noting that children continued to arrive at its orphanage in Rafah.

More than 30,000 people, including thousands of children, have been killed in Gaza since Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA