Students at top British universities plead for help to escape Gaza

Telegraph

2 days ago

Malak Hani graduated from school in Gaza with the second highest grade of any student in the Palestinian territories. Then the war broke out.
The education system in the enclave collapsed under Israel's bombardment, and the right to learn became one of the first casualties of the conflict.
The now 19-year-old turned her hopes abroad and received a full scholarship to the University of Cambridge this year. But months later, she remains trapped in the rubble of Gaza and tangled inside a web of British bureaucracy.
This is the fate of at least 40 Palestinian students, some of Gaza's brightest young minds, who have been offered scholarships to top UK universities – but have no feasible route to get there due to Home Office visa requirements.
Eight of the stranded students even hold coveted Chevening scholarships, awards offered to exceptional foreign students by the Government.
'I may lose my life before I can take up my scholarship'
As it stands, UK visa protocol requires international students to provide biometrics. But the visa office in Gaza has been shut since the war began and due to border closures, they cannot travel to centres in neighbouring countries.
'I am stuck,' Malak, who lives in the west of the devastated enclave, told The Telegraph. On top of the daily horrors of living under regular aerial bombardment, she said, 'losing another year without education would be very hard on me.'
She already despairs about the studying time she has lost as Israel's 21-month war against Hamas rages and ceasefire talks grind slowly on.
As she waits for help from the UK, Malak teaches English, Arabic, maths, and storytelling to displaced children in makeshift classrooms.
Like the other gifted students, she fears she will lose her scholarship if she doesn't reach the UK by September. But more pressingly, she harbours a darker fear. 'I may lose my life first.'
France, Ireland and Italy have all already successfully evacuated incoming university students from Gaza.
'I have every reason to believe the UK will help us, I truly believe the doors will open soon,' Malak said, her voice brimming with hope.
No response from Lammy
The Gazan students – who are supported by a group of academics from across top UK universities – are urging the Government to step in and help secure their safe exit from Gaza.
In May, they sent an open letter to David Lammy imploring the Foreign Secretary to help, but did not receive a response.
The Telegraph understands that the Government has insisted on the use of biometrics to confirm identities in order to assess whether they pose a risk to public safety.
The concerns come amid Donald Trump's crackdown on international student protestors who took part in pro-Palestine rallies that paralysed top US university campuses.
In March, the Trump administration arrested and moved to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian scholar – and legal US resident – who helped lead the Gaza war protests at Columbia University.
The US president has repeatedly alleged that pro-Palestinian activists, including Mr Khalil, support Hamas – an accusation protestors strongly deny. The 30-year-old was released from detention in June after a judge overruled the deportation order.
'Unless there is direct action from the Government, there is no possibility the students will be able to travel,' said Dr Nora Parr, a researcher at Birmingham University who has been volunteering on behalf of the students.
'Here we have extraordinarily intelligent students who could benefit our own campuses and their own communities in Gaza. This is an opportunity that should not be missed,' she said.
Responding to Malak's plight, Prof Graham Virgo, the head of Downing College, where she should be studying in the Autumn, said: 'We urge the Government to assist in supporting her with safe passage to travel out of Gaza.'
Israel accused of 'scholasticide' as it strikes universities
Shaymaa Abulebda, an influential writer and scholar from Gaza, should soon be starting a PhD at the University of Edinburgh. Instead, she lives in a tent in al-Mawasi displacement camp in the ruins of southern Gaza.
'My acceptance affirmed that my research mattered and was being recognised,' the 32-year-old said, before adding that it was quickly overshadowed by the harsh reality that she cannot leave Gaza without the UK's help.
Shaymaa had been teaching at the Islamic University of Gaza, where she once attended, until it was bombed in the first days of the war.
'It was heart-breaking. Even now, it's hard to process that the campuses are completely destroyed,' she said. 'The attack on the university is a direct attack on knowledge, imagination, and the right to learn.'
A United Nations report in June found that more than 90 per cent of Gaza's schools have been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks. The territory's last remaining university was destroyed in January 2024.
The inquiry accused Israel's military of deliberately targeting education facilities, which it denies. The UN has used the term 'scholalisticide' to describe it.
Shaymaa told The Telegraph: 'The situation in Gaza is unimaginably difficult. The cost of living is so high while the opportunities are none. It's totally stifling, every day is a struggle.'
Her PhD, if it goes ahead, will focus on Palestinian fiction. 'As a scholar from Gaza, I feel both a personal and intellectual responsibility to preserve and amplify our literature,' she said.
Colm Harmon, vice-principal for students at the University of Edinburgh, said that the work Shaymaa intends to pursue will have 'global impact'.
'Education is key to how Gaza emerges from conflict, and scholars like Shaymaa are the future foundations of that. We are proud to support her and her peers, as part of a strong effort from UK higher education,' he said.
Shaymaa added: 'I know how much the UK values education, so I feel that they will certainly find a way to help before it's too late.'
The doctor risking his life just to access Wi-Fi
Dr Bahzad al-Akhras is displaced in the same sprawling camp, where he has lived in a tent with his parents and siblings for almost two years.
After studying a masters in Britain, the 33-year-old returned to Gaza before the war to work as a children's mental health practitioner.
Throughout the conflict, he has been carrying out advanced trauma response work with children, many who have faced being pulled from the rubble of their homes and often orphaned.
Bahzad is waiting to take up PhD at the University of Manchester, where he received a full-scholarship to specialise in child mental health during conflict.
Like many of Gaza's two-million-strong population, he has lost loved ones, friends and colleagues to the war that officials in the Hamas-run Strip say has killed more than 58,000.
'Life is difficult in all means,' he said, sombrely. Applying for his studies involved miles of travel, risking his life to access Wi-Fi.
Mohammed Afzal Khan, the Labour MP for Manchester Rusholme, has been pushing the Government to help Bahzad. 'We need to have a fair and accessible immigration process, and the Government must do more to make that possible,' he said.
Dr Rubina Jasani and Dr Sabah Boufkhed, senior lecturers at Manchester, said: 'Having Bahzad at the University of Manchester will not only help the academic field to re-think mental health needs and assessments, but could also improve mental health care in conflict and for diverse communities everywhere.
'We, as supervisors, researchers and members of the public, need to learn from his unique experience as a mental health doctor in Gaza and support the development of research that can change the world and improve people's lives.'
Bahzad, who already delivers lectures and trains his colleagues on child trauma, sees his studies not as a personal opportunity, but a collective one.
'Communities are built by shared knowledge. Gaza's educational and health institutions have been hugely degraded, those of us that leave to study, will return to rebuild them.'
He added: 'The UK has always shown support for Palestinian people in times of crisis. I will keep hoping they will show it now.'
The Foreign Office would not comment on individual cases. A Government spokesperson said: 'We are aware of the students and are considering the request for support. Clearly the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this challenging.'