The UK will announce in the coming weeks plans to evacuate hundreds of children from Gaza for medical treatment.
Under plans being drawn up by the government, up to 300 children could be brought to the country for free NHS treatment, according to The Sunday Times.
This comes amid soaring rates of acute malnutrition among children in Gaza caused by Israel's siege and blockade.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said last week that the UK is "urgently accelerating" efforts to treat children in critical need of treatment.
The UK has taken only three of the estimated 7,000 patients to have been evacuated from Gaza since October 2023, reports state.
The vast majority have been treated in Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE. Around 200 people have been taken in by various European countries.
The plans state the government will allow each child to travel with a parent or guardian and sibling, and the Home Office will perform biometric and security checks before travel, a senior Whitehall source told the newspaper.
Some children are expected to remain in the UK permanently, according to sources familiar with the matter.
This will happen alongside another initiative run by Project Pure Hope, which was established by healthcare workers to facilitate the treatment of sick and wounded Gazan children in the UK.
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney welcomed the news but said the action should have been taken sooner.
"If the UK government is prepared to evacuate Palestinians for medical treatment, it would be entirely welcome," he said.
"My only regret is the UK government has taken this long to act."
Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza has had a catastrophic impact on Gaza's youth. The UN agency UNICEF estimates that Israeli forces have killed and injured at least 50,000 children since beginning their assault on the territory on 7 October 2023.
Aid agencies warn that its restrictions on the entry of food and aid have left hundreds of thousands of people facing starvation, with children at particular risk.
More than half of the 180 people estimated by the health ministry to have died of starvation during the war were children.
A spokesperson for the UK government said: "We are taking forward plans to evacuate more children from Gaza who require urgent medical care, including bringing them to the UK for specialist treatment where that is the best option for their care.
"We are working at pace to do so as quickly as possible, with further details to be set out in due course."
The UK has been working with Jordan to air drop food into Gaza over the past week as Israel continues to restrict the number of aid convoys entering via land crossings.