Arab News | Court overturns UK decisions blocking Gaza mothers, children from family reunification

LONDON: A UK immigration court has overturned government decisions preventing two Palestinian families in Gaza from joining their husbands and fathers in Britain, ruling that the Home Office acted unlawfully in applying its policy on biometric checks.

The immigration court known as the upper tribunal found that the government had unlawfully applied its “unsafe journeys” policy to the two families, whose mothers and five children, aged 7 or younger, are seeking to reunite with their husbands and fathers who have been granted refugee status in the UK.

The families have been living in Gaza in tents amid the ongoing war, with the court hearing that they face severe shortages of food and clean water as well as exposure to rodents, mosquitoes and bed bugs, while also facing the threat of sniper fire, The Guardian reported on Sunday.

Judge Fiona Lindsley said the children’s welfare should have been given primary consideration when the Home Office made its decisions.

“The best interests of these children should be the primary consideration, and it cannot be in their best interests to be afraid, undernourished and suffering from diseases of poverty and insanitary conditions without their fathers and no end in sight to that separation,” she said.

Families seeking to join relatives in Britain who have been granted refugee status normally have to provide biometric information, including fingerprints and facial images, at an overseas visa application center.

However, the visa center in Gaza has been closed since October 2023, while leaving the territory is extremely difficult.

The UK government has procedures allowing some flexibility over biometric requirements where travel to a visa center would be unsafe. The court case centered on how those provisions had been applied to the two families.

The Home Office said it intends to appeal the ruling.

Decla Palmer, a solicitor at Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit, which represents the families, accused the government of using its policy to prevent eligible Palestinians in Gaza from reaching their relatives in Britain.

“These families are completely broken — it is difficult to put into words the trauma they have faced and continue to endure. The mothers and children, trapped in Gaza, are suffering each and every day,” Palmer said.

“The fathers, in the UK, are facing the prospect that they may never hold their children again. The Home Office is actively keeping these families apart, leaving them stranded in Gaza in grave danger.”

The ruling could have implications for other Palestinians facing similar circumstances. An estimated 250 to 300 people in Gaza are believed to be seeking reunification with immediate family members in the UK who have been granted refugee status.

The British government has said biometric checks should be completed before people leave Gaza, while the Foreign Office has indicated that it is prepared to evacuate some families so they can complete the process in Jordan.

The case comes amid a wider suspension of the UK’s refugee family reunion system. The scheme was suspended in September 2025, with the government yet to announce when it will resume.

The Refugee Council estimates that around 20,000 people have been prevented from reuniting with family members since the suspension.

The government announced new refugee resettlement routes on Monday, including programs for Palestinian refugees and Afghan women and girls. However, those schemes are expected to handle only several hundred applications a year, far fewer than the number of people affected by the suspension of family reunion.

A Home Office spokesperson said the government would appeal the tribunal’s decision, defending biometric enrollment as a fundamental part of the UK’s immigration system.

“Biometrics, including fingerprints and facial images, are a core part of the UK’s immigration system, and their enrollment at a UK overseas visa application center is a standard requirement when making a visa application to come to the UK,” the spokesperson said.

“The enrollment of biometrics enables comprehensive checks against UK and international immigration and criminal records to identify individuals who may pose a threat to national security, public safety or immigration controls, or who are likely to breach UK laws if admitted.”