The World Health Organisation has announced that 15 children and one adult from Gaza are travelling from Egypt to Spain to receive care for complicated medical conditions, AFP reports.

The children were aged three to 17, and the mother of one of the children was also due to receive treatment in Spain, the UN health agency said.

“These very sick children will be getting the care they need thanks to cooperation between several partners and countries,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

The patients had been hospitalised in Egypt for several months after evacuating from Gaza, the WHO said, adding that they were among thousands of children and adults from Gaza in need to access specialised medical care outside of the Palestinian territory.

The agency appealed for the establishment of multiple medical evacuation corridors from Gaza, including through Rafah and Kerem Shalom. Of utmost urgency, it said, was “the restoration of medical evacuations from Gaza to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where hospitals are ready to receive patients”.