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.
