London MPs are leading calls for the Government to set up a Ukraine-style visa scheme for Gazans with family in the UK to come to Britain.
They have signed a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper urging her to “urgently” establish such a visa route for Palestinians in the besieged strip.
They are calling for a “Gaza Family Scheme” to “reunite (Palestinians) with their loved ones in the UK until it is safe to return,” Sky News reported.
The letter adds: “Just as the UK opened its doors to those fleeing persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong, we believe that the same generosity should be extended to Palestinian families.”
It has been signed by a number of London MPs including Marsha de Cordova (Battersea), Stella Creasy (Walthamstow), Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Clapham and Brixton Hill), Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith and Chiswick), all Labour, as well as John McDonnell (Hayes and Harlington) and Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse), both who was suspended from the parliamentary party last year for voting against the two-child welfare cap, and former Labour leader now independent MP Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North).
Ms Creasy told The Standard: “Many of us have Palestinians in our local community who would have family reunion rights if they were any other nationality given the risks of harm from the actions of Israel’s government and Hamas.”
Shortly after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the UK Government set up the Ukraine Family Scheme allowing Ukrainian nationals to join family members in the UK and live, work and study in the UK for up to three years.
Two years earlier, Britain offered British National (Overseas) visas to Hong Kongers seeking to flee Hong Kong after a strict national security law was imposed by China.
It allows them to live in the UK for five years and then apply for British citizenship.
Sixty-seven MPs and peers have put their name to the Gaza letter.
In it, the parliamentarians voice their “grave concern at the immense suffering inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza”.
They also accuse Israel of “shattering the temporary ceasefire agreement”, weaponising starvation, and intensifying its “campaign of bombardment and military assaults, and targeting of people accessing humanitarian aid”.
Responding to the letter, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There are a range of routes available for Palestinians who wish to join family members in the UK.
“More broadly, we want to see an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages still cruelly detained by Hamas, and protection of civilians and much more aid entering Gaza.”
Israel unleashed a ferocious military campaign in Gaza after the cross-border attack by terror group Hamas on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 54,500 people have been killed in the besieged strip since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Throughout the more than 20-month-old war, the UN led the massive aid operation by humanitarian groups providing food, shelter, medicine and other goods to Palestinians.
Israel, however, has sought to replace the UN-led system, saying Hamas has been siphoning off large amounts of supplies from it.
Israel has backed an American private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has started distributing food boxes at four locations, mainly in the far south of Gaza.
Thousands of Palestinians walk for hours to reach the hubs, moving through Israeli military zones where witnesses say Israeli troops regularly open fire with heavy barrages to control the crowds.
Health officials say hundreds of people have been killed and wounded. The Israeli military says it has only fired warning shots.
But United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has branded the US-backed aid operation in Gaza as “inherently unsafe,” giving a blunt assessment: “It is killing people.”
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume, the United Nations says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid from both the UN and GHF operations.
