LONDON: The British government is facing legal action over its alleged failure to assist in the evacuation of families trapped in Gaza, despite pledging months ago to do so, .
Two fathers in the UK have instructed the law firm Leigh Day to act on their behalf, arguing that the government’s inaction is unlawful and breaches their families’ human rights.
“I wished that I didn’t have to do this, that it didn’t have to reach this level that I’d have to involve courts,” said one father in the UK, who asked to remain anonymous. “I wish anyone would intervene and take my children out of the life that they are living.”
The man, who was granted humanitarian protection in the UK before the war broke out in 2023, said he was informed by the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in August that he would soon be reunited with his family after they received a positive family reunion decision the previous month.
In Gaza City, the man’s wife, three children and adopted nephew are now living in a tent in Al-Zawida. His wife walks for an hour to make phone calls to him, and he says his children have been shot at by Israeli forces while trying to collect aid. Their flour and rice have also been taken by gangs, he added.
“It was really shocking to see that this didn’t actually end up happening,” said the 39-year-old, who is from Gaza City and spoke through a translator.
He compared the government’s handling of the case to “being released from prison, only to be told you have to return.”
He added: “The war is not over, there’s still aggression from Israel, there’s no food or water, people are not OK.”
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the death toll has risen beyond 67,000. Israel has been accused by the UN of violating the October ceasefire and committing acts of genocide.
In August, the British government announced plans to evacuate ill and injured children from Gaza. However, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has urged the authorities to scale up those efforts after only a small number of children were brought to the UK.
Two months later, the government said Palestinian students with scholarships at UK universities would be allowed to bring family members from Gaza on a case-by-case basis.
“My children are students as well,” the father said. “Why shouldn’t (they) be brought here?”
Although the family has an approved reunion decision, they remain unable to travel because of biometric requirements. With no visa application center in Gaza, lawyers say the UK government has refused to secure assurances from Jordanian authorities to allow the family to cross the border for biometric checks there.
The FCDO, which was contacted for comment, is understood to have responded to a pre-action letter in October stating that the family could not be assisted at present, and that the differential treatment between them, students and medical evacuees was not unlawful.
Sarah Crowe, a solicitor at Leigh Day, said the government had “turned its back” on promises to help ensure their clients’ safe passage.
“Meanwhile, other groups have been safely evacuated under similar circumstances. Our clients argue that this differential treatment is not only unjustifiable and unfair, it is unlawful,” said Crowe.
Another father in the UK, who also requested anonymity, has launched separate legal action to reunite with his six children in Gaza.
Earlier this year, the government agreed to assist the family after a pre-action letter, but they now say that commitment has not been upheld.
Speaking through a translator, he said relatives in Gaza are living in a tent after their home was bombed, and that they are entirely dependent on charities for food.
His daughter has developed blood clots in her legs, while his son struggles to breathe after inhaling phosphorus gas, he said. In the UK, his two daughters often ask when their siblings will arrive.
He described himself as exhausted and emotionally broken.
“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 have already been with them for five or six months now.”
A government spokesperson said: “It would be inappropriate to comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.”
Earlier this year, figures showed how Home Office bureaucracy has made it nearly impossible for people trapped in war zones such as Gaza and Sudan to reunite with relatives in the UK. For months, campaigners and parliamentarians have called for a bespoke humanitarian scheme similar to the one created for Ukrainians following Russia’s invasion.
