Two Gazans have said they will be happier to be among their people, close to a war zone, than watch the conflict from afar in the safety of the UAE.

They are part of a medical staff volunteer team of 160 who have committed to offering emergency care for children in the war in Gaza.

UAE’s Burjeel Holdings has joined forces with two Egyptian medical groups – Egypt’s Response Plus Holding (RPM) and Cleopatra Hospitals Group – to provide care at a 60-bed field hospital near the Rafah crossing.

The initiative to establish the complex, which will provide care for children who are able to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing, was agreed on Saturday and will begin subject to obtaining approval.

The volunteers who were among the first to sign up to travel say they are answering a call of duty to offer much-needed support to those injured in the continuing conflict.

Registered nurse Ilham Altarabeen, 31, from Gaza, only recently started working in Abu Dhabi.

"I don't think I could stand by and not volunteer," she told The National. "I want to be next to my people. They need all the help they can get."

Ms Altarabeen, who is one of 10 siblings who are all in Gaza, has not told her parents that she has volunteered. "I don't want them to worry," she said.

Volunteering isn't new to Ms Altarabeen, who has previously assisted at a women's hospital in Gaza.

"I've seen and been in difficult situations," she said. "I've seen kids lose their speech from shock and helpless mothers grieving over their dead children.

"I understand that what I'll see in Gaza is much worse than what we are seeing on TV but this is the best decision that I have ever made.

"The day that [President] Sheikh Mohamed announced that we would be volunteering was the happiest moment in my life.

"True, it was a dream to come to the UAE and the safety that I have felt here, I've never felt that anywhere else, but I can't imagine not going and supporting my people in their time of need."

Sheikh Mohamed on Sunday ordered the Joint Operations Command of the Ministry of Defence to begin a humanitarian operation to support Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip under the Gallant Knight 3 operation.

He also said doctors registered with the Ministry of Health and Prevention and the Department of Health in Abu Dhabi could volunteer.