The British Home Office is blocking the evacuation of women and children from Gaza
The UK Home Office is delaying the evacuation of dozens of women and children from the Gaza Strip, despite the Foreign Office’s willingness to facilitate their departure from the conflict zone.
These are Palestinian families who, even before the family reunification program was suspended, had applied to join their closest relatives in the UK. Although their applications are still being processed, they have yet to receive permission to leave Gaza.
Last September, the British Home Office temporarily suspended the acceptance of new applications for refugee family reunification and promised to introduce stricter rules in the spring. The new rules have not yet been announced, and the procedure remains suspended.
Currently, people who are eligible to leave Gaza are being evacuated via Jordan. However, the Home Office does not provide the necessary guarantees for onward travel to the United Kingdom and is challenging the relevant cases in court. According to lawyers, the ministry sometimes assigns several senior attorneys to a single case at once.
The Ministry of the Interior insists that families must submit biometric data before arriving in Jordan, even though the British visa center in Gaza has not been operational since October 2023. Meanwhile, Belgium, France, Italy, and Ireland are organizing similar evacuations.
Representatives of the families claim that British authorities treat Palestinians more harshly than refugees from other countries. In some cases, the Home Office has stated that mothers and children may pose a threat because they come from “a territory where terrorists operate.” At the same time, some of their relatives have been granted the right to remain in the United Kingdom precisely because of persecution by Hamas in Gaza.
Sarah Crow, a lawyer with the law firm Lee Day who represents some of the families, accused the British authorities of reneging on their promise of assistance.
“The British government has abandoned vulnerable families in Gaza after promising them assistance. The Home Office is blocking family reunification, even though the Foreign Office is willing and able to evacuate them,” she said.
The Home Office responded that, following the reform of the British asylum system, family reunification will no longer be automatic.
“Those seeking to bring family members to the UK will have to meet stricter criteria,” a spokesperson for the ministry said.
Source: The Guardian.
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