By Wednesday, August 20, nearly 900 Danish doctors had signed a petition demanding that the Scandinavian country take in patients evacuated from the Gaza Strip. 450 nurses had signed a similar petition. Many NGOs, the Danish Paediatric Society, and six former foreign ministers from both the right and the left also called on Denmark to join the list of European countries that have taken in Palestinians – most of them children – who are gravely ill or have been wounded in Israeli airstrikes and gunfire in Gaza.

According to the latest numbers from the World Health Organization, dated June 11, 223 patients and 503 accompanying persons had been evacuated to the European Union since the beginning of the war. Among the eleven member states that welcomed them – including France – Italy, under Giorgia Meloni, ranked far ahead, with 181 wounded treated by its health care services since January 2024.

Denmark, however, has yet to take any in. Despite mounting criticism, including from within her own party, Social Democrat Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen maintained her refusal, which she has now explicitly justified by the ultra-restrictive migration policy pursued by her coalition government. The fact that most patients are children makes no difference, she explained: "The issue of family reunification could very quickly arise," she told the newspaper Jyllands-Posten on August 15.

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