Japan looking to treat sick and wounded Palestinians from Gaza, prime minister says

Japan was exploring ways to supply aesculapian attraction to Palestinians from the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, premier curate Shigeru Ishiba said.

"We are making efforts to find ways to judge radical successful Japan who person fallen sick oregon been injured successful Gaza," Mr Ishiba told the Japanese parliament connected Monday.

His authorities was besides moving connected a programme to alteration students from Gaza to survey astatine Japanese universities, Kyodo News quoted the premier curate arsenic saying.

He was responding to a parliamentary question connected whether a 2017 strategy for Syrian exile students could service arsenic a exemplary for Gazans.

"We’re reasoning astir launching a akin programme for Gaza and the authorities volition marque efforts towards the realisation of this plan," Mr Ishiba said.

The projected measures would basal isolated from Japan’s asylum policy, which has been criticised for its restrictive attack and has faced increasing calls for review.

The Nagoya High Court past period ruled successful favour of a Rohingya man, 45, aft his exile exertion was rejected 4 times. Ruling that his lawsuit should beryllium recognised arsenic “objective facts beryllium that would enactment him successful fearfulness of persecution”, the tribunal criticised the Japanese authorities for “lacking an knowing of the concern of those who use for exile status”, Asahi Shimbun reported.

In 2023, Japan granted asylum to 1,310 people, less than 10 per cent of the applicants. The state has taken successful 82 Syrian students recognised arsenic refugees by the UN under a abstracted framework, a overseas ministry authoritative was quoted arsenic saying by the quality bureau AFP.

In Gaza, meanwhile, astir 50 patients, including 30 children with cancer, were transferred to Egypt for attraction done the Rafah crossing implicit the weekend, according to section wellness officials.

"We impulse for aesculapian evacuations to beryllium expedited done each imaginable routes. Thousands of lives beryllium connected it," World Health Organization manager wide Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Israel’s 15-month warfare connected Gaza has decimated the besieged Palestinian territory’s healthcare system, on with overmuch of its civic infrastructure similar water, energy and sanitation networks, roads, schools, and homes. Israel’s crushed and aerial battle connected Gaza, which was triggered by a Hamas onslaught that saw astir 1,200 Israelis killed and much than 250 taken hostage successful October 2023, has since near implicit 46,000 Palestinians dormant and much than 110,000 wounded, according to the Gaza wellness ministry.

Mohammed Zaqout, manager of hospitals astatine Gaza's wellness ministry, said astir 12,000 patients were successful urgent request of attraction and 6,000 were acceptable to beryllium evacuated abroad. The tiny fig of patients acceptable to beryllium evacuated successful the coming days would not screen the request "and we anticipation the fig volition increase”, helium said.

Additional reporting by agencies