When his three-year-old son asks why they cannot be together, his Palestinian father tells him the border is closed.
asserted
border → ask → him
“He asks me, why don’t you open it?” the father, who requested anonymity, told Al Jazeera.
asserted
who → ask → Jazeera
“He thinks I own an airplane.
asserted
I → think → airplane
He is always asking me, can you come and take us?”
asserted
you → ask → us
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asserted
options → set → stalemate
Separated by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, they speak over WhatsApp whenever the internet connection allows.
asserted
connection → separate → WhatsApp
The father has been granted protection in Britain, while his wife and their two children, remain trapped in a tent in Gaza.
asserted
wife → grant → Gaza
“When I can’t get in touch with my wife, I feel so stressed.
asserted
I → get → wife
I am so scared that something bad has happened to her or the children.”
asserted
something → happen → her
Sometimes, he goes to the park to clear his head, and sees children playing with their parents.
asserted
children → go → parents
“My heart hurts when I see that,” he said.
asserted
he → hurt → that
Without my family it is impossible to enjoy anything.
asserted
it → enjoy → anything
I worry about them all the time.”
asserted
I → worry → them
Lawyers and rights groups estimate there are between 250 and 300 people who are seeking through the courts to have their immediate family join them from Gaza but remain separated.
asserted
family → estimate → Gaza
On September 30 , an Upper Tribunal ruled to reunite the families in the UK, but the Home Office is appealing the decision and is refusing to waive the requirement for the families to provide biometrics, despite there being no registration facility in Gaza.
asserted
families → rule → Gaza
This is prolonging their separation as Israel continues to bombard the enclave despite a so-called ceasefire agreement in October 2025.
asserted
Israel → prolong → October
‘They bombed the area next to us’
asserted
They → bomb → us
A second family that spoke to Al Jazeera also requested anonymity.
asserted
that → speak → anonymity
Earlier this month, shrapnel from an Israeli bomb damaged their home.
asserted
shrapnel → damage → home
The mother told Al Jazeera they have since been displaced again.
asserted
they → tell → Jazeera
“Where we are now, there is no safety.
asserted
we → be → ?
They bombed the area next to us last night,” she said.
asserted
she → bomb → us
“I sat in the corner and I brought all three children to my body.
asserted
I → sit → body
They were all screaming and crying and I kept telling them everything will be OK.”
asserted
everything → scream → them
Asked what she would like most in the world, her youngest daughter answers: “To go to my baba with my sisters and my mama.”
asserted
daughter → ask → sisters
Decla Palmer, a solicitor at Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit who represents the families, told Al Jazeera: “To hold your children and keep them safe from harm is the most basic wish of any parent.
asserted
hold → represent → parent
What these families are going through is every parent’s worst nightmare”.
asserted
going → go → What
“The fathers, in the UK, are facing the prospect that they may never hold their children again.”
uncertain
they → face → children
The biometric trap
Both families applied before the government suspended new applications under the refugee family reunion route on September 4, 2025.
asserted
government → apply → September
Their lawyers say the families meet the requirements, but what keeps them apart is a bureaucratic catch-22.
asserted
keeps → say → them
They cannot obtain visas without providing biometrics.
asserted
They → obtain → biometrics
But Gaza’s visa application centre, where families would register physical characteristics such as fingerprints, has been closed since October 2023, so they cannot leave Gaza.
asserted
they → register → Gaza
More flexible biometric requirements are given for those who need to be medically evacuated from Gaza, while the government has helped scholarship students leave Gaza and complete biometric checks in Jordan.
But lawyers say the Home Office is refusing to provide the same guarantees for separated family members to make that journey, even though they would still have to undergo UK and Israeli security checks.
asserted
they → give → checks
Palmer said: “The Home Office is actively keeping these families apart, leaving them stranded in Gaza in grave danger.”
asserted
Office → say → danger
“The judge made the right decision in our case, ruling that the Home Office should apply its unsafe journeys policy lawfully to allow the mothers and children we represent, who are eligible to come to the UK under the Immigration Rules, to leave Gaza and reunite in the UK,” Palmer added.
asserted
Palmer → make → UK
“Instead, the Home Office is doing everything possible to delay and to defend its unlawful decisions, taking a policy position that blocks people in Gaza who are eligible to come to the UK from being able to do so.
asserted
who → do → UK
No safe and legal route for families inside Gaza
Activists say a dedicated Gaza family scheme could overcome these barriers, pointing to earlier arrangements that allowed eligible Ukrainians to provide biometrics after arriving in Britain.
uncertain
Ukrainians → say → Britain
A petition calling for such a scheme attracted more than 100,000 signatures and was debated in parliament in May 2024.
uncertain
petition → call → May
In its December 2023 response, the government said it had no plans for bespoke arrangements, directing people towards existing visa routes.
asserted
it → say → routes
Lawyers are now calling on the government to remove the obstacles preventing eligible families from reuniting under the existing visa route.
asserted
Lawyers → call → route
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
