LONDON: A student from Gaza granted permission to live and study in the UK has been evacuated from the Palestinian territory, with her family, by the British government.
Manar Al-Houbi won a full scholarship to study for a doctorate at the University of Glasgow. It also allowed her to bring her husband and children with her, and they applied for the required visas. But shortly before her studies were due to start, UK authorities told her the rules for international students and their dependents had changed and her family could no longer accompany her.
Shortly after her story was reported in October, however, the government backed down as said it would consider evacuation of international students’ dependents on a “case-by-case basis.”
Al-Houbi and her family are now in Jordan, on their way to the UK, The Guardian newspaper reported on Friday. The British scheme for the evacuation of students from Gaza is due to expire on Dec. 31. People who have attempted to use it have described it as being riddled with issues, as a result of which some students with scholarships have been left stranded in the Palestinian territory.
Several told the Guardian they had decided not to travel to the UK because they had felt pressured into leaving loved ones behind, including children.
Wahhaj Mohammed, 32, said he was told by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to travel to the UK alone, and his wife and children would be allowed to join him later. Two months after he arrived in Glasgow, his family are still in Gaza with no time frame for them to follow him.
“The uncertainty affects every aspect of my life here,” he told The Guardian. “It’s difficult to settle, to feel present or to engage academically when the people you love most remain living under constant threat.”
The Guardian said UK officials were “hopeful” his family would be evacuated in 2026 but could offer no guarantee about when this might happen.
Another student, Amany Shaher, said she refused to leave her family behind in Gaza and as a result was denied permission to travel to the UK this week. She does not know whether she will be permitted to defer her scholarship to study at the University of Bristol.
The 34-year-old, who has three children, said: “How can I even consider leaving my children behind in Gaza? Nowhere else in the world would a mother be expected to part so easily from her children. It’s dehumanizing. We have a right to stick together as a family and not be forced to separate — that should not be too much to ask.
“None of us know if the UK’s student evacuation scheme will be extended or not. We haven’t been given any clear guidance or timelines and have no idea what 2026 will bring.”
Mohammed Aldalou also refused to leave behind his family, including his 5-year-old autistic and non-verbal son, to take up a scholarship for postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics.
He said the Foreign Office had suggested to him he travel separately from them, as they did with Mohammed.
“They should ask themselves what they would do if they were in my shoes,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking that after everything we’ve been through, we’re being asked to make this impossible decision.”
Sources told The Guardian it was unlikely the Foreign Office would extend the scheme to allow students to travel from Gaza to the UK later, but that a meeting took place last week with the Department for Education to discuss whether students could begin their studies online.
