Palestinian children wounded in Israel-Hamas war arrive in United Arab Emirates

Medical personnel and officials move Mohammed Abu Tabikh, 14, who was wounded in the neck and spine during the Israel-Hamas war, from a plane to an ambulance on a stretcher in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. Abu Tabikh is one of thousands of children in Gaza who have been injured by the ongoing Hamas-Israel war. But he’s one of the slightly luckier ones who was able to leave the besieged enclave to get treatment outside. (AP Photo/Malak Harb)

The first plane carrying Palestinian children wounded in the Israel-Hamas war landed in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday after the country pledged to aid 1,000 children.

The group of 15 people, including children and their family members, made it across the Gaza Strip's Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Friday. They then took a flight from the Egyptian city of El-Arish to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.

An Associated Press reporter observed young children laying asleep on their mom's laps as the plane landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport. Some seats had been removed on the plane so that critically wounded children could lie on stretchers. 

The war, now in its seventh week, was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people. The militant group also abducted some 240 men, women and children.

Israel's ongoing retaliatory military strikes on Gaza has so far killed more than 11,400 Palestinians, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried under rubble.