NHS doctor in Scarborough urges Government to evacuate injured dad from Gaza

• Video by Jonathan Brown.

A doctor from Scarborough is urging the government to help evacuate his father from Gaza so that he can undergo life-saving surgery.

Dr Mohammed Balousha's father, Khaled, was left with a traumatic brain injury after he was struck with shrapnel outside a shelter in the Southern Gaza Strip on 9 December.

The 61-year-old Palestinian is being treated in a makeshift field hospital, but his condition is deteriorating and doctors are unable to perform the neurosurgery he needs.

Dr Balousha, 32, has raised enough money for his father to have the vital operation in Egypt and has contacted several agencies and charities in an unsuccessful attempt to secure his father's evacuation.

He told ITV News: "The first thing that comes to mind is I'm not there, and I'm a doctor.

"If I don’t help, nobody else will be able to and I know that he will not survive. So it’s a matter of life and death, isn’t it?

"Worry, fear, concern - I think I’m beyond that. Everything has stopped."

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Khaled was injured while trying to buy food for his young grandchildren. His family had been sheltering in a school because of the ongoing conflict between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

Dr Balousha, who is training to become a trauma surgeon, is asking the British Government to help facilitate his father's move through the Rafah Crossing into Egypt.

However, he said the UK authorities have refused because neither of them are British citizens.

He added: "I have a connection with the UK and my father has a connection with the UK.

"My father is the person who worked all his life to make me a doctor, who today works here in the NHS.

"Everyone should put all politics aside. There is a person who needs an intervention and the intervention is there. Just make it happen."

Dr Balousha has now set up a petition that's been signed by more than 2,000 people in the hopes of making the Government reconsider.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office refused to comment on the case. Instead, they sent details of how British nationals and UK visa holders can request support to leave Gaza.

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