Letter to the Home Secretary on Gaza Students Policy

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  The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP

  Home Secretary

  6 January 2026

  Adrian Ramsay MP co-signed this cross-party letter initiated by Abtisam Mohamed MP.

  Dear Home Secretary,

  We are writing to urgently to request a meeting regarding the Government’s evacuation policy

  for scholarship students from Gaza, which ended on 31 December 2025.

  From the initial application process through to the evacuation stage, students in Gaza have

  faced delays, uncertainty, and confusion amid the daily horrors of life under bombardment and

  siege. Despite this, dozens have successfully navigated the system and arrived here to start

  their studies.

  They were able to do so as new guidance confirmed the UK Government’s commitment to the

  evacuation of scholarship students, as well as a further agreement for the evacuation of their

  dependents. This was extremely welcome.

  However, we understand that very few have been evacuated under the agreed policy for

  dependents. In December, students were informed that despite previous assurances, no

  dependents would be evacuated before the end of the scheme, and that students should take

  the opportunity to leave Gaza without them. This included PhD student Mohammed Aldalou

  bound for LSE, who has a severely autistic child and was expected to leave him behind in

  Gaza.

  PhD student Manar al Houbi campaigned for months to be able to take up her place at the

  University of Glasgow. She was told repeatedly to either to leave Gaza without her spouse

  and children, or to remain behind with her family in danger, abandoning her course.

  Manar and her family were eventually evacuated at the end of last year, but this was not the

  case for the rest who are still waiting. The wider scheme has now ended; and there is no

  confirmed extension to the policy, which is causing extraordinary pressure and uncertainty for

  the students. Time is critically short, and we believe that at the very least, an extension of this

  scheme would bring both the compassion and the stability needed in these circumstances.

  We would be grateful for an urgent response.

  Adrian Ramsay MP co-signed this cross-party letter initiated by Abtisam Mohamed MP.