Ontario’s health care system is offering to open its doors to children seriously injured in the four-week conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas.

“Children who are suffering on either side of the conflict, we want to do what we can to help them,” Premier Kathleen Wynne told reporters at Queen’s Park.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins, co-founder and former president of War Child Canada, made the announcement Tuesday. “We believe we have a moral responsibility to respond in this instance,” he told the Star.

So far five Ontario pediatric hospitals have agreed to participate in this humanitarian endeavour.

Hoskins noted the request to Canadians to help both Israeli and Palestinian children came from Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish of Toronto. His internationally acclaimed book, I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey, was inspired by the loss of three of his daughters to Israeli shelling in 2009.

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“We have indicated that we would be prepared to open up Ontario hospitals to children who have been injured as a result of this conflict, whether on the Palestinian or Israeli side,” Hoskins, himself a medical doctor, told the Star.

Bernie Farber, former chief executive of Canadian Jewish Congress, stated in a release: “At a time of bitterness and darkness it is these small pinpricks of light that can bring encouragement and hope to those so much in need.”

Hoskins said it is too early to say how many children could be treated and how quickly because there’s paperwork required, noting both the federal and the Israeli governments have been asked if they would consider becoming involved in the program.

“Logistically it would be enabling these children, appropriately identified as needing a higher level of care, to be removed from the conflict and bringing them and probably a parent or parents with them to Ontario,” he said.

Ontario is no stranger to bringing children from elsewhere for specialized care. The Herbie Fund provides financial support for children from around the world to receive surgical treatment at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“We felt it was important for us to consider (the request), partly because of the world-class medical facilities we have in this province,” Hoskins said.

Abuelaish made a public appeal earlier through the Star for medical help for those seriously injured children, who he said are mostly Palestinian.

And he says he’s now just waiting for Ottawa to give its seal of approval, adding opposition New Democrat and Liberal MPs have already shown their support.

“Mostly they are Palestinian children, if you follow the news … and we are planning to have 100 kids to different hospitals in Ontario,” Abuelaish told the Star.

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A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said the Conservative federal government, which staunchly supports Israel, is looking at what can be done for the children, but he put responsibility for the conflict squarely on Hamas.

“We’re consulting with our partners to determine how best we can provide assistance to victims of Hamas,” Adam Hodge said in an email statement. “Make no mistake, there is only one party responsible for the suffering of the Palestinian people, and that is the international terrorist group Hamas.”

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