UK: Dozens of MPs urge Shabana Mahmood not to block evacuation from Gaza

More than 85 British MPs have written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood expressing concern over reports that the government is blocking the evacuation of dozens of women and children from Gaza.

Labour MP Kim Johnson sent a letter to Mahmood on Thursday which was signed by MPs from across different parties.

Last September the Home Office suspended refugee family reunion applications pending the introduction of new, stricter rules, but these have not yet been announced.

As a result, families in Gaza who had applied to join an immediate family member in Britain before the suspension have been blocked from doing so.

Johnson told Middle East Eye on Thursday: "Family reunification should never be treated as a political bargaining chip.

"For families enduring the horrors of Gaza, it is a lifeline – often the only hope of safety and the chance to hold their loved ones again."

She added: "At a time of unimaginable loss and trauma, the very least we should be doing is ensuring those with a legal right to be together are not torn apart by needless Home Office obstruction. We cannot allow bureaucracy to stand in the way of humanity."

'We cannot allow bureaucracy to stand in the way of humanity'

–

MPs' letter to home secretary

Johnson's letter has been signed by dozens of Labour MPs, including Richard Burgon, Diane Abbott, Clive Lewis, John McDonnell and Abtisam Mohamed.

It has also been signed by Green MPs Sian Berry, Carla Denyer and Hannah Spencer, members of the parliamentary Independent Alliance and some Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party MPs.

The letter says: "Palestinians in the UK have been told by the Foreign Office that they have agreed to evacuate their families from Gaza.

"But their lawyers report that the Home Office appear to be refusing to provide the required onward travel assurance and sometimes to be using legal challenges to block these families coming to the UK, in a way that appears to be taking a harsher line with Palestinian families than with refugees from other countries who are applying for family reunification visas."

Home Office urged to reinstate family reunification

The letter further says that the government's medical evacuation scheme, which commits to bringing 300 children "in need of life saving and life changing medical care" from Gaza to the UK, "still remains unmet".

It raises the specific cases of two children from Gaza, 12-year-old Mahmoud Mansi and 15-year-old Obaida Atwan, who were evacuated from Gaza and met former Prime Minister Keir Starmer last December "where he promised to do everything in his power to reunite them with their remaining family back in Gaza".

However, "they have heard nothing further in the months since".

The letter asks the home secretary to "urgently reinstate the family reunification process for Palestinians and work collaboratively with your counterparts in the Foreign Office to evacuate everyone who has been granted permission to come to the UK".

It further asks that the Home Office ensures its policy on Palestinians from Gaza "is in line with refugees from other countries who are applying for family reunification visas".

MEE has contacted the Home Office for comment.

This comes after Andy Burnham apologised for the Starmer government's response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza shortly before he became prime minister last month.

“I know many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right, and I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better,” Burnham said.

Burnham said the “unbearable suffering” in Gaza was a “scar on our collective conscience”. He also criticised Israel's ever-expanding occupation of territory in Gaza, adding, “We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.”

Britain operated hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza during Israel's genocide and shared intelligence with Israel, which the government insisted was for "hostage rescue" purposes.

The Starmer government imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel in 2024 and recognised Palestinian statehood last September.