The French helicopter carrier Dixmude has docked in Egypt and could start treating wounded children from Gaza later this week, Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu said, Reuters reports.

It is the first Western military ship to dock in Egypt since the conflict started and moored yesterday at Al-Arish, 50km west of Gaza and now a hub for international aid for Gaza.

“We have this ship, which has been transformed into a hospital and which arrived yesterday. It has 40 beds,” Lecornu told Europe 1 radio, adding he hoped it could start receiving patients this week.

Paris has made available, if necessary, 50 beds in France for gravely wounded and sick children in Gaza, which could include cancer patients. Once treated on the Dixmude, the children will need to be moved to larger hospitals in Egypt or field hospitals in Gaza so that more patients may be tended to.

Some 22 civilians, doctors, including 16 surgeons and six paediatricians, are on board, French officials said.