Umer Bin AjmalDozens of Palestinian students awarded places at leading British universities risk losing their scholarships after being unable to complete UK visa requirements due to Israel's ongoing blockade of Gaza.
In May this year, these students — among them eight recipients of the UK's prestigious Chevening scholarship — wrote directly to British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, appealing for urgent help to reach Britain in time for the new academic year.
They have yet to receive a single official response.
"It is a government-awarded scholarship, yet they have not been in touch with a single student, not even the Chevening scholars," Dr Nora Parr, a researcher at Birmingham University who's also supporting students in Gaza, tells TRT World.
"Folks from the Chevening Secretariat simply tell the students to 'rest assured that they're doing what they can'. But these are proactive community leaders — they are neither assured nor are they resting," says Parr.
Campaigners say the silence and apathy from the UK government have compounded the students' growing anxiety, as time to secure their visas runs out. Many have full scholarships to world-class institutions, including Oxford and Cambridge, yet remain stranded in Gaza with no safe route to complete the required biometric checks.
No safe routes
To apply for a UK visa, applicants must register fingerprints and photographs at an authorised biometrics centre. The only such centre in Gaza has been closed since October 2023. And since Israel shut the Rafah crossing — the sole border point between Gaza and Egypt — in May 2024, no safe routes have been available for students to travel elsewhere to provide this data.
While the UK introduced a biometrics deferral process in 2023, students report that their requests have gone unanswered or delayed for weeks. Even when deferrals are granted, there is no secure route for them to reach a third country to complete the requirement.
At least 76 students in Gaza have secured offers from 31 UK universities, including the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, according to organisers of Gaza40 campaign.
Gaza40 is a coalition run by Palestinian and UK students since August 2 that aims to press the British government to facilitate the students' safe exit and entry into the country.
Thirty-eight have full scholarships, among them eight Chevening Award recipients and Higher Education Scholarship Palestine (HESPAL) scholars funded by the British Council. Another seven scholarship holders are waiting for internet access to complete language requirements.
The remainder include 30 students with conditional or unconditional offers awaiting scholarship decisions, as well as self-funded candidates and those raising funds privately.
Campaign organisers say all stranded students have been identified and are receiving support in preparing visa applications.
The students come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, including medicine, midwifery, mental health, engineering and the arts.
Organisers say many have studied and taken international exams under extreme conditions, some working from temporary shelters and makeshift internet points.
The Gaza40 grew out of frustration with how slow things are, the campaign organisers say, adding that they have been working incessantly since May when the Irish government did its first evacuation.
Campaigners warn that without urgent action, many students will lose scholarships before the academic year begins.
Organisers say they are working with 24 UK universities attended by the affected students, supported by student unions, human rights groups and academic staff.
They describe the campaign as "grounded in principles of education, legal and moral rights, and grassroots collaboration" and argue that universities have been supportive but need government action to resolve the biometrics barrier.
War on education
The UN Human Rights Council's Independent International Commission of Inquiry has reported that Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed more than 90 percent of Gaza's schools and universities through air strikes, shelling, burning and demolitions.
"We are seeing more and more indications that Israel is carrying out a concerted campaign to obliterate Palestinian life in Gaza," said Navi Pillay, the chair of the commission.
"Israel's targeting of the educational, cultural and religious life of the Palestinian people will harm the present generations and generations to come, hindering their right to self-determination."
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said in April that 88 percent of schools in Gaza now require reconstruction or major rehabilitation.
"Education in Gaza is a casualty of war," the UN agency said.
The Gaza40 campaign organisers argue that without urgent UK government intervention, these students' academic futures will be jeopardised, and an opportunity to continue their education outside the war zone will be lost.
"We had been advised to let the government do its work and be assured that things would happen," Parr tells TRT World.
"As we get closer and closer to the start date of the students' programmes, and nothing has happened."
