Men with family stuck in Gaza say lack of action from UK government is a breach of human rights | Gaza
The British government is facing legal action for failing to act despite committing months ago to help evacuate families in Gaza.
The two families argued that the government’s failure to act was unlawful and violated their families’ human rights. They are among a large number of separated families for whom the government has failed to deliver on its promise of release, according to law firm Leigh Day, which represents them.
“I wish I hadn’t had to do this, I wish it hadn’t gotten to the point where I had to involve the courts,” said a father in the United Kingdom who wished to remain anonymous. “I wish someone would intervene and save my children from the life they are living.”
The man, who received humanitarian protection in the UK before the start of the war in 2023, said he was told by the Foreign Office in August that he would be reunited with his family after receiving a positive family reunification decision a month earlier.
“It was really shocking to see that it didn’t actually happen,” the father from Gaza City said through a translator. The 39-year-old man compared the government’s response to being released from prison, only to be told he would have to return.
“The war is not over yet,” he added. “There are still attacks from Israel, there is no food and water, the situation of the people is not good.”
The death toll in Gaza continues to exceed 67,000, according to the health ministry. Israel is accused of violating the ceasefire that came into force in October and of genocide by the United Nations.
In August, the government announced it would evacuate sick and injured children from Gaza, but the government followed through. Doctors Without Borders After helping only a handful of children, he decided to step up his efforts. In October the government announced it would allow Palestinian students on scholarships to UK universities to bring their families with them from Gaza on a case-by-case basis.
The father said, “My children are also students.” “Why not [they] Will it be brought here?
The family is subject to biometric checks when deciding on a successful family reunification. Lawyers say the UK government has refused to reassure Jordanian authorities that the family will be allowed to cross the border to complete biometric checks, as there is no visa application center in Gaza.
It is understood that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contacted for comment, responded to a pre-trial letter sent in October stating that the family could not be helped at this time and that the differential treatment between the family and the students and medical evacuees was not unlawful.
A government spokesman said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”
Earlier this year figures revealed how Home Office bureaucracy was making it impossible for people stranded in war zones such as Gaza and Sudan to be reunited with family members in the UK. For months campaigners and parliamentarians have been calling for a special plan similar to the one created after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Gaza City, the man’s wife, three children, and his adopted nephew in Al-Zawida, Gaza, currently live in a tent. His wife walks for an hour to look for him, and he worries about his children, who were shot by Israeli forces trying to get help and whose flour and rice were taken away from them by the gangs.
Sarah Crowe, a lawyer at Leigh Day, said the government had turned its back on commitments to ensure safe passage for her clients despite promising to help them two months ago.
“Meanwhile, other groups were evacuated safely under similar conditions. Our clients argue that this disparate treatment is not only unfair and unfair, but also illegal,” Crowe said.
Another father in the UK, who wishes to remain anonymous, has launched a separate legal action in a bid to be reunited with his six children in Gaza. Earlier this year, the government agreed to help the family following a pre-trial letter, but the family says the government went back on its word.
Speaking through a translator, he said family members in Gazaare living in a tent after their house was bombed by Israel, and that they are entirely reliant on income for food. She said that her daughter had a blood clot in her legs in Gaza and her son had difficulty breathing after inhaling phosphorus gas. In the UK, her two daughters often ask when the others will join them. He said he was tired, exhausted, and often began crying and screaming uncontrollably.
“My children were supposed to be here in May,” said the father, who fled Gaza in 2018 after being imprisoned and tortured by Hamas. “I was supposed to be with them for five or six months anyway.”
