A High Court judge has urged the Foreign Secretary to ‘think again’ about a decision to refuse consular assistance to a Palestinian family-of-six who were given permission to join a relative in Britain.
The mother, father and their four children have been attempting to flee Gaza since they were granted the right to settle in the UK in January after applying through a scheme meant for Ukrainian refugees.
Their application was initially rejected by the Home Office whose lawyers said it could set a precedent and lead to ‘the admission of all those in conflict zones with family in the UK.’
However they were victorious in an appeal to an Upper Tribunal judge.
But the family have remained in Gaza as they need consular support to leave via Israel and the permission of the Israeli Government.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has refused this on several occasions with the Foreign Office warning that such a move would be equivalent to a ‘quasi-repatriation’ and could even impact Britain’s ‘diplomatic relationship’ with Israel.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the Foreign Office told the High Court that interference ‘would require the court to enter the forbidden area of foreign relations.’
However in a ruling handed down this afternoon, Mr Justice Chamberlain sided with the family and said the most recent decision in June not to provide consular support was ‘flawed’ and ‘cannot stand.’
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been urged to rethink the decision not to provide consulare assistance to the family
Mr Justice Chamberlain said the decision-making was ‘flawed’ and ‘cannot stand.’
‘This does not mean that the Foreign Secretary is obliged to decide in the claimants’ favour, just that he must think again,’ he said.
The case attracted national attention in February when the Prime Minister said a judge who granted the family the right to live in the UK after they applied through the Ukrainian refugee scheme was ‘wrong.’
Hugo Norton-Taylor, an upper tribunal judge, had allowed the family to come to the UK on the basis of their right to a family life under article 8 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR).
The parents and their children – the two youngest aged nine and seven – were seeking to join the father’s brother in the UK.
The court heard he came to Britain in 2007 and is now a British citizen. Both the father and his brother worked for the security services of the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, which are political opponents of Hamas.
Responding to a question from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch during PMQs about the case, Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘I do not agree with the decision. She is right, it is the wrong decision.’
The family applied for the right to live in Britain under the Ukraine Resettlement Scheme as they believed it ‘most closely matched their circumstances.’
It prompted Downing Street to say the ‘loophole’ would be closed.
Set up in March 2022, the Ukraine scheme allowed Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they had a relative who was a British citizen or settled in the UK. Some 72,000 visas were issued before it closed last February.
Children are reportedly starving in Gaza where conditions have deteriorated following an Israeli blockade
In his 29-page ruling, Mr Justice Chamberlain said that the family’s apartment block was destroyed in October 2023 after they were given a 10-minute warning from the Israeli military, and they now live in a tent.
He continued that they have ‘very little food and no effective sanitation’ and remain ‘at constant risk of injury or death.’
He said that three of the family members had been fired upon by Israeli forces close to an aid distribution site, and one had been hit by shrapnel from a tank shell – but had been unable to access proper medical treatment.
He added: ‘Although they have no anterior right to assistance, the effect of the challenged decision is to deny a family of six, including two minor children, the opportunity to escape from a place where they face the daily danger of death or injury from military action or starvation.’
Responding to an argument that it could open the ‘floodgates’ for similar requests, the judge said that around 38 such requests for support had been made since May by people eligible to come to Britain, however the total number is unknown.
Criticising the Foreign Office, he said: ‘If a decision-maker is concerned that acceding to a request in one case risks opening the floodgates, he or she ought to make some attempt to understand whether what lies behind the gates is really a flood, or only a trickle.’
A government spokesperson said: ‘We have received the court’s judgment and are considering it carefully before responding.’
