Slovakia Participates in Evacuating Child Patients from Gaza Strip

Gaza/Bratislava, April 3 (TASR) - The air wing of the Slovak Interior Ministry, via an activation of the EURACARE Flight & Shelter module, evacuated 13 child patients from the Gaza Strip along with their family members on Wednesday, the fourth evacuation of patients from this war-torn area carried out by Slovakia, ministry spokesman Matej Neumann stated on Thursday. The young Palestinian patients were treated and their condition stabilised at a Greek hospital in Cairo. A Slovak government aircraft then transported them to Zaragoza, Spain. The evacuation was carried out by the specialised EURACARE Flight & Shelter team at the request of the European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and the Spanish Health Ministry. This team had previously assisted in evacuating Slovak citizens from Lebanon in October of last year following the start of the Israeli offensive, and from Israel in October 2023 after the attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas. The operation was carried out via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which enables coordinated cooperation between member states, international organisations and humanitarian partners. The mechanism covers 75 percent of the evacuation costs. lin/df