Charities attack ban on Gaza students bringing families to UK

Charities and universities have criticised the UK government’s “excessively harsh” rules preventing university students from Gaza bringing their families with them to Britain.

Last week, 34 Gaza students with scholarships at British universities were evacuated ahead of starting their studies.

But some students said they would have to give up their places rather than leave family in Gaza, after learning tighter immigration rules barred them from bringing dependents.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the government wanted “to bring people who are able to study, not to cause them further pain or hardship” by making students leave family behind.

Chief Executive of the Refugee Council Enver Solomon said: “it is excessively harsh to tell students fleeing the appalling devastation in Gaza that while they can study safely here, they must leave their loved ones behind.

“No one should be forced to choose between their education and their family.

“The government should urgently reconsider and ensure families can stay together in safety.”

Oxford University said it was “very concerned” about the impact of current restrictions on student dependents, which it said “risks preventing talented Gazan scholars with very young children and babies from taking up their places”.

Scottish Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said she demanded a meeting with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, saying the Holyrood government “cannot comprehend why these families are not being allowed to travel and stay together in safety in the UK”.

“On a humanitarian level, given the horrors that these people have endured, there is a moral imperative that this ask is honoured,” she said.

The evacuation of 34 students follows months of campaigning by politicians, academics, and others on behalf of more than 100 Palestinian students holding offers from UK universities this year.

The group includes members of the Chevening Scholarship, a mostly government-funded scheme for international students to study a one-year master’s degree in the UK.

The BBC understands a maximum of 20 children this year would come to the UK if dependents of Chevening scholars were to be allowed.

At least one exception is known to have been granted by Yvette Cooper when she was home secretary, who allowed a female Chevening scholar to bring her two-year-old child.

For Manar Al-Houbi, taking up her PhD place at Glasgow University would mean leaving her three young children and her husband behind in Gaza.

“We are a family, we are one unit, we cannot be separated”, she told the BBC, speaking as a military plane flew over her tent in Khan Younis.

Ms Al-Houbi said she had completed her masters degree in the UK in 2018 “and it was one of the most difficult periods in all my life because I was separated from my family, so I decided not to repeat this experience”.

As part of a crackdown on immigration, most international students are now not allowed to bring their dependents with them to the UK – but PhD students are still able to bring their families.

In Ms Al-Houbi’s case, the BBC understands that while her children are eligible for a visa to come to the UK, they are not eligible to be evacuated from Gaza.

Ms Al-Houbi said she learned she would not be able to bring her children “only days before our evacuation”.

She added: “It was very difficult time for me to know that I have to choose between my family and my education.

“It’s impossible for me to be separated from them – I can’t be separated from my husband and my children”.

Lammy told Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that the government is “actually dependent on Israeli permissions to bring people out and that has not been easy to get”.

But he added that the UK’s intention was “to bring people who are able to study – not to cause them further pain or hardship” by having to leave their families behind.

Last week, a group of severely ill children arrived in the UK from Gaza for urgent NHS specialist medical care.

Israel launched a major ground offensive on Gaza City on Tuesday.

On the same day, a United Nations commission of inquiry found Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.

Israel launched its war in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas militants on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

At least 65,141 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.

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