UK resists family reunification scheme for Palestinians

For nearly three hours on Monday, Parliamentarians spoke passionately about the importance of creating a visa scheme to allow Palestinians to seek sanctuary in the United Kingdom from Israel's horrific war on Gaza that is only escalating.

The debate followed a petition launched last year that received more than 100,000 signatures.

In a packed room, speaker after speaker addressed Tom Pursglove, the UK’s immigration minister, describing the merciless reality of being trapped in a war zone.

Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East in the north of England, reminded him that a similar offering already exists in the form of the Ukraine Family Scheme launched in 2022.

Despite the widespread support for the scheme during the meeting, Pursglove concluded the session by reaffirming the government’s current position. He said those trying to leave Gaza should use "existing routes," despite politicians relaying the dangers and impracticalities of trying to do so.

Pursglove also said that he was unable to offer Palestinians the same rights as Ukrainians because the two situations are different.

"The security relationship for example with the Ukrainian authorities is a very different security relationship with that which we have with the authorities in Gaza, who are a terrorist organisation."

Organisers of the campaign to create a family reunification scheme for Palestinians quickly condemned the minister's remarks.

"The government's response is absolutely abominable and insulting and does not address issues of life and death raised by cross-party MPs throughout the debate on a Gaza Family Scheme," they said on X. They also pledged to continue to call for ways to safely reunite Palestinian families.

No refuge

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the United Kingdom opened its doors to Ukrainians seeking sanctuary from the war. More than 200,000 Ukrainians made the journey under immigration schemes quickly rolled out by the British government.

For months, UK citizens with family in Gaza have asked for this same consideration to be offered to them, but were refused.

Ramy's family of 12 fled Gaza last month and is now crowded into a three-bedroom rented apartment in Cairo's Nasr City neighbourhood.

Speaking to TRT World, Ramy, who asked that his last name be withheld, said "It's not ideal. They are worried about what will happen next, but it's of course better than the conditions they've endured during the last seven months of war in Gaza."

He added that what he would like most would be for his family - which includes his parents who are now in their 70s, his siblings and their five children - to be reunited with him at his home in Stirling, in central Scotland.

"They are now somewhere safe with access to food and water, but in Egypt they are considered illegal, so they don't have access to health services nor to education. I'd want them with me until it's safe for them to go back and rebuild their house in Gaza."

The world is watching

Ramy's family once owned a three-storey house in Gaza City, which now lies in rubble. Although the loss of their ancestral home saddens him, he said losing more than 200 members of his extended family cuts much deeper.

"I don't even have the words to describe what that feels like. We feel betrayed. The whole world is witnessing this, and no one can really stop this madness," Ramy said.

Ramy, who is in his 30s, speaks with an international accent reflective of his 13 years in the UK. He moved to Scotland in 2010 to pursue a master's in environmental management, and after obtaining a PhD in the same subject, he went on to find work as an environmental engineer. He became a British citizen last year.

Wanting to get his family to safety, he asked the British embassy in the West Bank and then in Cairo, to help him get them out of Rafah, where they had fled after the destruction of their home.

"They refused to help," he recalled.

He then paid $47,000 to Egyptian agency Hala to get his family out of Gaza. “I had no choice left,” he explained. The agency, which charges $5,000 per adult and $2,500 per child, makes up to $2 million a day, according to a report by the Middle East Eye. It states the firm made $118 million within three months from the plight of desperate Palestinians.

"Hala agency is affiliated to the Egyptian regime and is abusing their power by charging Gazans tons of cash. I'm lucky because I have a decent job, and I also had the support of friends and family, and together we were able to pay the fees to get them out of Gaza, but it's not a permanent solution," Ramy said.

Thousands more have desperately turned to GoFundMe pages as a means to escape a war that is only intensifying, with more than 35,000 people killed by Israeli forces, including over 14,000 children.

So when Ramy heard about the Gaza Families Reunited Campaign, led by Palestinian families from Gaza living in the UK, he immediately joined. The campaign launched after the war started in October 2023, and is also backed by the former First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf whose wife's family were trapped in Gaza at the start of the war.

It represents 350 Palestinian families in the UK, and is calling for the government to build on the Ukraine Family Scheme launched in 2022, by introducing a Gaza Family Scheme that would offer sanctuary for Palestinians with UK-based family members until return is safe.

"It's about being offered the same rights that were offered to Ukrainians when they faced war. I mean we are told that Palestinians should go to the neighbouring Arab countries, but why wasn't that the case for Ukrainians, or even people from Hong Kong?” Ramy asked.

"I've been living here and paying taxes, but we're not treated like other citizens. Why is that you ask? You'd have to ask the British government."

"I've been living here and paying taxes, but we're not treated like other citizens. Why is that you ask? You'd have to ask the British government."

Selective sanctuary

In a statement released by the Home Office in December, the government said it was aware that people in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories may wish to join family in the UK. It added that the government is working to repatriate British citizens and those with pre-existing permission to come to the UK.

However, "there are currently no plans to introduce bespoke arrangements for people arriving from the region who do not hold permission to come to the UK."

As it stands, British citizens can apply for family visas for their Palestinian spouses, partners or children. Parents, siblings or other relatives aren't eligible, unless there are exceptional cases.

Under the Ukraine Family Scheme eligibility was extended to parents, grandparents, adult offspring, siblings, and their immediate family members. In February, the government announced it would be extending the scheme for an additional 18 months.

In an interview with Palestine Deep Dive, Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, a paediatric neurologist at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, said the government was once again expressing selective solidarity.

He added that not a single Palestinian child has been brought to the UK for medical treatment, while at least 150 Ukrainian children were flown to his London hospital within a matter of weeks after the outbreak of war. The block didn't come from the hospital, but instead from government measures, he said.

Signatures to unite families

While petitions like the one launched by the Gaza Families Reunited campaign don't end with a vote to implement the request of the petition, they do raise awareness of the issue being discussed and can influence decision-making in government.

The popularity of the appeal comes after two families in Gaza won a legal battle against the Home Office. It had refused to make a decision on the family reunion applications from families in Gaza who did not submit the usual biometric information needed, such as photographs and fingerprints.

An immigration tribunal ruled in favour of the Palestinian families, calling the UK government's response "irrational and unreasonable," given that most infrastructure had been bombed in Gaza.

In a statement, a spokesperson from the Gaza Families Reunited campaign said, "There have been cases of people who have died in Gaza while waiting for the Home Office to make a decision on their visa application. Allowing them entry to the UK through our proposed scheme could make the difference between life and death for Palestinians seeking to join family in the UK."

The spokesperson stressed the urgency of the situation given the deteriorating conditions and Israel's recent military incursion into Rafah.

There are hundreds more like Ramy united in their grief of losing loved ones and desperate to cocoon their war-battered families in the safety of their own homes.

"The UK government's response has been shocking, but the signatories of the petition, the protests on the streets and the mass encampments at universities across the world show that people don't think the same way as their governments do."