UK accused of branding Gaza children security threat while blocking family re-unification

Britain’s Home Office has blocked the evacuation of dozens of Palestinian women and children from Gaza, with officials allegedly claiming that some pose a security risk simply because they come from a “territory where terrorists operate”, according to The Guardian.

The families are said to be trapped in life-threatening conditions despite the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office-which is responsible for organising British evacuations overseas-saying that it is ready to help them leave Gaza and reunite with relatives in the UK.

Lawyers representing the families say that the Home Office, which controls immigration and entry to the UK, has adopted a harsher approach towards Palestinians than towards refugees from other countries seeking to join relatives in Britain. Some of those whom officials have allegedly treated as potential security threats are small children.

The Home Office’s position has come under scrutiny because some of the refugees already living in the UK were allowed to remain after the department accepted, as part of their immigration cases, that Hamas had persecuted them in Gaza. Yet their wives and children are now reportedly being treated as potential security risks simply because they come from the same territory in which Hamas operates.

Both the Home Office and the Foreign Office must approve evacuations from Gaza. Families who receive permission to leave currently travel through Jordan. Before they can be evacuated, however, the Home Office must issue an “onward travel assurance” confirming that they will be allowed to continue from Jordan to the UK.

According to the report, the Home Office has withheld these assurances and opposed attempts by families to obtain them through legal action. In some cases, the government has reportedly instructed several senior lawyers to contest the claim of families.

The department has also insisted that family members provide biometric information, such as fingerprints and photographs, before travelling to Jordan, even though Gaza’s UK visa application centre has remained closed since October 2023. Belgium, France, Ireland and Italy have facilitated comparable evacuations, while the UK continues to block the families’ departure. 

One of those affected is Bassem Abudagga, a PhD student who remains separated from his family in Gaza. Although the Foreign Office has reportedly agreed to support their evacuation, the Home Office said that the family may have to wait until December for a decision on whether it will issue the necessary travel assurance.

Abudagga’s lawyers informed the department that his family was living in insanitary, insect-infested tents and facing frequent Israeli bombing.

READ: Former New York mayor secretly honoured Israeli soldiers amid Gaza genocide

“While this is acknowledged, the conditions your clients face in Gaza alone are not considered to amount to compelling circumstances under the [relevant] guidance,” the Home Office responded on 15 July 2026.

Another Palestinian refugee in Britain has been separated from his wife, their three children, aged nine, 12 and 14, and a 17-year-old nephew whom the family adopted after Israel’s war orphaned him.

“My family are in constant danger and I worry about them every minute of every day,” the unnamed Palestinian refugee explained. “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 man questioned why the Home Office was obstructing the evacuation when the Foreign Office had already offered to assist his family.

Sarah Crowe, a solicitor at Leigh Day who represents some of the families, accused the government of abandoning vulnerable Palestinians after promising to help them.

“The Home Office is blocking family reunification when the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is ready and willing to evacuate them,” said Crowe.

A Home Office spokesperson defended the government’s approach, saying that family reunion would “no longer be automatic” under reforms intended to introduce what it described as a “fairer asylum system”. This means that refugees already living in Britain will face stricter requirements when applying for close relatives to join them.

Palestinian families and human rights organisations have repeatedly accused the British government of applying discriminatory standards to people trapped in Gaza.

In April 2024, dozens of organisations and legal firms called for a dedicated Gaza family reunification programme modelled on the scheme created for Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion. Campaigners warned that Palestinians faced an impossible situation because Britain required biometric information while refusing to facilitate their journey to a functioning visa centre outside Gaza. Two people were reportedly killed while awaiting decisions on their applications. 

The latest allegations emerge as Palestinian families continue to endure the consequences of Israel’s destruction of Gaza. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in the enclave and reported in June 2026 that Israeli forces continued to commit genocide and other atrocity crimes. 

READ: UK Consulate in Jerusalem X account suspended after highlighting Israel’s abuse of Palestinian detainees