Gaza mother-of-three pleads with UK government for evacuation or she will lose UK scholarship
A mother-of-three has pleaded with the UK government to help her evacuate from Gaza and get her a scholarship place at a top UK university before it’s too late.
Amany, a 34-year-old mother of three, won a Phoenix Space scholarship to study for a master’s degree in Gender and International Relations at the University of Bristol.
But he is one of 25 scholarship students stranded in Gaza because the Home Office has not yet put their names on one of the UK evacuation lists.
And even if Amany is allowed to evacuate herself, she may face the impossible choice of deciding between taking a life-changing place at a British university or leaving her family in the war-torn region.
“This opportunity represents much more than physical displacement; it is a lifeline to regain our right to education, dignity and hope after enduring unimaginable hardship,” he said. Independent. “Prolonged war and repeated displacements have left students feeling disconnected from the world, unable to pursue their dreams or even imagine a normal future.
“The evacuation process not only provides safety, but also a renewed sense of purpose. It allows us to rejoin academic communities where learning, creativity, and human connections can once again flourish.”
His family, currently displaced in Deir al-Balah, was made homeless seven times and moved to various areas such as Khan Younis and Rafah. Amany, her husband, their ten-year-old daughter and their two sons, aged six and two, were trapped in horrific conditions.
The new house where she lived with her children, her family home and her mother-in-law’s house were left in ruins.
There are nine students awaiting confirmation that they can enter the UK with their dependents and, if so, whether they can bring their loved ones with them.
Students who were not called for evacuation are already holding out hope that they will be listed on Sunday, October 26. The next announcement will be made in about a month, but no date has been set yet and it may be too late for many of those affected.
“All close members of my family are outside Gaza,” Alamy said. “My parents are in Egypt, my sisters are in England and Germany, and my mother-in-law and her daughter are in the UAE for medical treatment. This separation leaves me without a family support network to care for my children if I were to leave.
“Yet I believe that furthering my education in a country like the UK, where academic excellence, innovation and strong human values combine, will enable me to rebuild more effectively when I return.”
Earlier this week, Independent Vice-chancellors and chancellors at Britain’s top universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter, Glasgow, Sussex and UCL, have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer asking him to use his “discretion” to allow the small group of students to pass through, it said.
They warn that failure to resolve the situation will tear families apart and leave children in Gaza parentless.
While the statement praised the government’s recent evacuation of scholarship students and the UK’s role in efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, it requested urgent updates on the “timetable for the evacuation of all remaining eligible students” next week.
Unless students are on the dual release list planned for this week, non-doctoral students will lose their places and efforts to secure places and full funding will be in vain, the statement said.
A government spokesman said on Wednesday: Independent: “We are actively supporting students in Gaza. We have already facilitated the departure of some students and we expect other students to arrive in the coming weeks.
“Removing people from Gaza is an extremely complex and sensitive operation. We have worked hard to support Chevening Scholars and students, fully funded by scholarships from British universities in Gaza, to come to the UK and take up their places.”
