Two seriously ill children from Gaza are expected to arrive at a specialist child cancer unit in Utrecht for treatment this week, the hospital has confirmed.

“We can offer the treatment that they need as soon as possible,” a spokesman for the Princess Máxima Centre told broadcaster RTL. “Delays in treating cancer bring enormous risks.”

The children and their immediate families have been granted visas entitling them to stay in the Netherlands for medical treatment. Both families have also been found accommodation near the hospital.

The outgoing government said earlier this month that a few very sick children would be allowed to come to the Netherlands at the end of October or early November.

The move marks a change of course for the government. This summer MPs narrowly rejected a motion to bring children from Gaza to the Netherlands, with prime minister Dick Schoof and VVD leader Dilan Yesilgöz arguing it was better to treat them closer to home.