By Anne Jolis BRUSSELS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Belgium is seeking support for a European Union mission to evacuate wounded children from the Gaza Strip, the country's foreign ministry said on Thursday. Foreign ministry spokesman Bart Ouvry said Belgium may consider sending its own mission if it fails to get the backing of other EU countries at a meeting of EU ambassadors on Friday. He said Belgium was mulling several options, including an airlift or ground transport to hospitals in Egypt, Lebanon or Jordan or to a hospital in Brussels which specializes in burns. "The government has decided to urgently study the possibility of a Belgian operation to evacuate wounded children from the Gaza Strip. Such an operation must, as far as possible, be coordinated at the European level," a ministry statement said. Medical facilities in Gaza have been overwhelmed since Israel began a military offensive in the Palestinian territory on Dec. 27 in response to cross-border rocket attacks by Palestinian militants. More than 700 Palestinians have been killed, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said, and at least 3,000 people wounded. The European Commission backed the evacuation initiative, a spokesman for EU Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said. Eli Lev, Israel's Deputy Ambassador to Belgium, said Israel would support in principle a coordinated EU evacuation mission. "Now, they (Belgium) have to approach the Israeli authorities and see how this can be arranged," Lev said, adding while Israel would welcome an EU operation, the logistics of allowing individual countries into Gaza to assist and evacuate wounded children would be unmanageable. Ouvry said Belgium hoped any evacuation operation would take place at the weekend, but said no firm timeframe had been set. (Reporting by Anne Jolis, Editing by Darren Ennis and Janet Lawrence)
A Palestinian, wounded during Israel's offensive in Gaza, lies in a hospital in the southern city of Ashkelon January 8, 2009. Israel pressed its offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza ...
