The Home Office is blocking the evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza, despite the Foreign Office saying it is ready to get people out of the war-torn region.
Last September, the Home Office announced it was suspending refugee family reunion applications and that new, more restrictive rules would be announced in the spring. So far there has been no announcement and the process remains suspended.
Applications made before the announcement continue to be processed. However, families in Gaza who applied to reunite with an immediate family member before the suspension have been blocked from joining loved ones in the UK.
The Home Office and the Foreign Office are involved in evacuations from Gaza. At the moment families who have a right to leave are evacuated via Jordan. However, the Home Office is not providing the required onward travel assurance (OTA) and is using legal challenges to block these families coming to the UK, sometimes deploying several senior barristers to a single case.
The Home Office says biometrics are obtained before families travel to Jordan, even though the visa centre in Gaza has been closed since October 2023. Other European countries such as Belgium, France, Italy and Ireland are facilitating such evacuations and the Foreign Office has said it is willing to evacuate the families.
Lawyers for the families stranded in life-threatening conditions in Gaza say the Home Office appears to be taking a harsher line with Palestinian families than with refugees from other countries hoping to reunite with loved ones in the UK. They say that in some cases the Home Office has stated that the family members, including small children, pose a security risk because they come from a “territory where terrorists operate”, even though some of the refugees in the UK were granted leave to remain on the basis of having been persecuted by Hamas in Gaza.
The Guardian has previously reported on the case of Bassem Abudagga, a PhD student who has been separated from his family. Although the Foreign Office has agreed to help with evacuating his family, the Home Office has said they will have to wait until December before officials make a decision about whether to grant an OTA.
In a communication with Abudagga’s lawyers on 15 July 2026 in response to descriptions of insanitary conditions, infested tents and frequent bombings, the Home Office said: “While this is acknowledged the conditions your clients face in Gaza alone are not considered to amount to compelling circumstances under the [relevant] guidance.”
In another case, a Palestinian refugee in the UK is separated from his wife, their three children – aged nine, 12, 14 – and his 17-year-old nephew who they adopted after the teenager was orphaned by the war.
He said: “My family are in constant danger and I worry about them every minute of every day. The UK government promised to help my family but has now gone back on that promise.
“They say my family could be dangerous because there are terrorists operating in Gaza. I don’t understand how a mother and her children can be considered a security threat. The Foreign Office has offered to evacuate my family, so why is the Home Office doing everything in its power to stop it?”
Sarah Crowe, a solicitor at the law firm Leigh Day representing some of the families trapped in the Palestinian territory and hoping to reunite with immediate family in Britain, said: “The UK government has abandoned vulnerable families in Gaza after promising to assist them. The Home Office is blocking family reunification when the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is ready and willing to evacuate them.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Under our reforms to create a fairer asylum system, family reunion will no longer be automatic. Those seeking to bring family members to the UK will need to meet stricter criteria.”
