British immigration officials have gone to court to stop a Palestinian mother travelling from Gaza to the UK to receive private medical treatment.
The 67-year-old requires surgery for a severe spinal condition and is living in a bomb-damaged building with no electricity or running water and food in short supply, court documents revealed.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons and is known by the initials FA, applied for a visa to travel to the UK, for private medical treatment. Her daughter, who has lived in the UK since 2006, would pay for the treatment.
But in May 2024, her application was refused by an entry clearance officer who said they were “not satisfied” that FA would return to Gaza at the end of the proposed visit.
FA appealed under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects an individual's right to a family life, and was initially successful.
The court found that she was a genuine visitor who met the requirements of the immigration rules and that refusing her entry would be incompatible with Article 8.
Immigration officials then went to the Court of Appeal in London to challenge that decision, arguing that no “additional elements of dependency” existed beyond normal emotional ties between adult relatives to establish a right to a family life.
The hearing was told that FA was born in Jordan and went to Gaza with her husband and five of their nine children on a trip that was meant to last three weeks, but they were unable to return after entering the territory.
Her daughter began working in a grocery store at the age of 11 to support the family and eventually completed an English literature degree at the University of Gaza. She was awarded a scholarship to study for a master's degree in Britain.
She has only seen her mother three times since 2006 but has continued to support her and the rest of her family in Gaza by sending them money.
At one point she gave her mother $10,000 to help buy a house in Gaza city by selling her car, borrowing money and using her savings. The daughter has not returned since Hamas took over in 2007 and is now married in the UK.
The Court of Appeal was told that the daughter texts her mother every day, even if the mother cannot respond. Her mother shares private information about her health problems with her daughter that she does not share with her other children.
She would have paid for her mother to be treated privately in the UK, and this would initially consist of physiotherapy, pain management and spinal injections plus surgery if needed. Her mother applied for a six-month visa to cover the treatment period.
However, the judges allowed the appeal and ruled that “the facts do not demonstrate that there are additional elements of dependency between FA and her daughter such as to amount to family life within the meaning of Article 8 of the Convention”.
“The refusal of entry clearance as a visitor did not, therefore, involve any interference with the right to respect for FA’s family life,” they said.
