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Fully funded plans to give Palestinian children injured in Gaza life-saving treatment in the UK were shown to Prime Minister Keir Starmer this week, with calls for his government to lift visa restrictions.
Mr Starmer met British-Palestinian families at his residence in Downing Street. Many of those at the talks had relatives who had been killed or displaced in Gaza. Among their demands was for the UK government to enable children injured in Gaza to enter the UK to receive specialist hospital treatment. This includes complex treatments for head injuries or rehabilitation for lost limbs.
The community told Mr Starmer they had raised funds that would pay for the children's evacuation, travel and private treatment in the UK, alongside other costs. But the uncertain and lengthy nature of the UK’s visa application process was an obstacle, said Dr Nehad Khanfar, head of the Association of the Palestinian Community in the UK, who attended the meeting.
“We told the Prime Minister that the Palestinian community was happy to provide logistical support. What we need is for the kids to come over and that’s it,” he said.
While other European and Arab countries have taken children and adults for emergency treatment from Gaza, the UK has yet to do so.
Great Ormond Street Hospital launched UK Reachback this year, with specialists having volunteered to offer phone support to clinicians caring for children who have been victims of the conflict, in Gaza and Israel. Experts from the UK also advise the UAE's Emirates Field Hospital in Rafah through calls every two weeks.
The families asked for “any scheme” that could allow children from Gaza to come to the UK at short notice. “We want the government to take serious steps towards this. It is purely about the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza. It will not be politicised later on,” Dr Khanfar said.
This was the Prime Minister’s first meeting with the Palestinian community in the UK – having met the families of Israeli hostages in the run-up to the October 7 commemorations this month. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer were also present.
This was a difficult encounter for British Palestinians, who feel “let down” by the UK government’s support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. “We had a tough and frank discussion,” said Dr Khanfar, adding that Mr Starmer “looked surprised” when he was confronted by the families who attended.
Members of the group received devastating news from relatives in north Gaza, which is currently under Israeli siege, just minutes before they walked into No 10. Among those who attended was Khitam Atallah, who lost 48 members of her family in the war, including her mother, three brothers and their children.
The Labour Party said it would be guided by international law in its approach to the conflict, and took measures to curb its support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. But it has been criticised for its support for Israel’s war, and its continued delays to recognising Palestine as a state.
The families also discussed the need for a visa scheme that would allow British-Palestinians to bring relatives displaced in Gaza or in neighbouring countries to the UK. “A lot of family members are being left on their own, without any options. This is mainly mothers, who are elderly, displaced and have no one around them,” Dr Khanfar said.
He said this included an elderly mother who fled Gaza and was now living in Turkey, away from her family in the UK. Palestinians must apply for a visa to enter the UK, and campaigners have pointed to the Ukraine Family Visa Scheme, which gave immediate family members caught up in the war in Ukraine fast-tracked access to the UK.
“We offered our help again to get this without public funds,” he said. “The only thing holding us back is the government bureaucracy. [If] the government does nothing to ease the procedures, the meeting will be worth nothing."
The Palestinian community told the Prime Minister of the escalating situation in the occupied West Bank, and the need to impose more wider-reaching sanctions on the companies that trade with illegal settlement projects there.
They also renewed calls for a complete embargo on arms sales to Israel, including the sale of components to the US’s F-35 programme, whose fighter jets are then sold on to Israel. “We made it clear to the Prime Minister that parts of the F-35 were killing people in Jabalia as we speak,” Dr Khanfar added.
Palestinian ambassador Dr Husam Zomlot said the meeting was a “step” towards Britain’s recognition of its historical role in the Palestine-Israel conflict.
“The meeting constitutes another step towards Britain’s recognition of the importance of the Palestinian component in British society, and the historical sin against the Palestinian people and the recognition of their right to self-determination and the defence of their legitimate rights,” Dr Zomlot said in a social media post.
Mr Starmer said he was “humbled” by the Palestinian families’ “immeasurable grief”. “This horrific suffering must end, there must be an immediate ceasefire, and Israel must let unrestricted aid into Gaza now,” he wrote on social media after the meeting.
According to Dr Khanfar, Mr Starmer “showed a lot of sympathy” and promised that Ms Rayner, who serves as Minister of Communities, would “investigate” the possibility of “having a series of meetings to design a mechanism for a follow-up”.
But he declined to be pinned down on whether or not he thought the meeting was a success. “We’re waiting to hear about the next steps, it’s all about how they will follow up,” he said.
