The first group of critically ill and injured Palestinian children set to receive NHS treatment have left Gaza and are expected to arrive in the UK in days.

Axar.az reports, citing BBC, they are the first children to be brought to the UK for treatment as part of a government operation being co-ordinated by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Home Office and Department of Health.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the children had been evacuated from Gaza in an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper.

A Foreign Office source told the BBC the report was correct and the children were due to arrive in the UK in the "coming days".