The UK government has recently approved plans to allow 40 Gazan students to take up their fully funded places at various universities across the UK, including several places at Cambridge.

The students will be the first to leave the country to study in the UK since the Israel-Gaza conflict begun in October 2023, almost two years ago.

Speaking in Parliament on the 2nd of September, then Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced: “I have been working closely with the Home Secretary to ensure that students from Gaza, including Chevening scholars, can secure their UK visas […] I am pleased to say that we are extending this support to students in Gaza with full scholarships.”

The announcement follows months of sustained pressure from Members of Parliament, academics, and student groups. Earlier this August, the Cambridge Student Union (SU) wrote an open letter calling for “government intervention” to allow students in Gaza to take up their offers at Cambridge.

The students had previously been unable to take their places at UK universities due to the government’s visa requirements, which demand international students to first provide in-person biometric data at their local visa offices.

This was not possible for Gazan students due to closures of exit routes and visa offices in Gaza, leaving the nearest safely accessible offices in Jordan and Egypt.

In conjunction with the former Foreign Secretary’s announcement, the then Home Secretary agreed to defer these biometric checks under the Home Office’s Unsafe Journey Policy.

According to lawyers representing Palestinian students, this will allow international students from Gaza to have their visas approved in principle. The students can then enrol their biometrics in a third country en route to the UK.

The latest announcement from the government assures that all students with scholarships will be able enter the UK. It promised to support 40 Gazan students who hold scholarships to take up their places in the UK.

A total of 80 Palestinian students hold offers to study at UK universities this year. It remains unclear whether students without fully funded scholarship places will still be subject to existing visa requirements in order to assume their places.

While the government decision officially enables students in Gaza to begin their studies in the UK, logistical challenges remain. The students hoping to take up places must evacuate an active war zone, as well as an area recently confirmed by UN-backed experts to be experiencing severe famine.

Malak Hani, a Gazan with an offer to read History and Politics at Downing College, recently told The Telegraph that she feared losing her life before she could take up her place at Cambridge.

The former Foreign Secretary admitted in Parliament on Tuesday (02/09) that logistical difficulties remain. He stated: “We are reliant on Israeli permissions and on students having a full scholarship” to evacuate them successfully.