Palestine migrants allowed to stay in UK via scheme meant for Ukraine refugees sparking fears it’ll ‘open floodgates’
PALESTINE migrants have been granted the right to stay in the UK via a scheme meant for Ukraine refugees.
The move sparked fears it will "open the floodgates" after an immigration judge ruled a family-of-six fleeing Gaza were allowed to stay in Britain.
The Home Office had rejected their appeal to stay with their brother, who lives in the UK, after they submitted it through the Ukraine Family Scheme.
It was denied by lower-tier immigration judge Joanne Oxlade because the family were not from Ukraine.
But, higher-tier judge Hugo Norton-Taylor ruled this was a breach of the family's human rights - despite being warned against it by the Home Office.
He said the family were in an “extreme and life threatening” situation which outweighed the “public interest”.
Read More
The Palestinian family included a four children aged between seven and 18, with their parents.
They saw their home reduced to rubble in an air strike before being moved to a Gaza refugee camp where they lived with the constant fear of the Israeli army.
The family applied to stay in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme in January last year, before it closed in February.
They claimed their situation was “compelling and compassionate” enough to be accepted despite not fitting the rules.
Their relative who lives in the UK, and has British citizenship, has not seen the family in person for 17-years, the court heard.
But Home Office lawyers expressed concerns it could "open the floodgates" to "the admission of all those in conflict zones with family in the UK", as reported by .
Shadow home secretary Chris Philip argued tighter restrictions were needed around decisions being made in human right laws.
He said Parliament needed final say over who is permitted to stay in the UK, rather than judges.
A Home Office spokesman said it had “rigorously” fought against the family's claimed.
They said: “The latter court ruled against us on the narrow facts of this specific case.
"Nevertheless, we are clear that there is no resettlement route from Gaza, and we will continue to contest any future claims that do not meet our rules.”
Mr Philip added: “There are two million people in Gaza alone and tens of millions around the world in conflict zones, many of whom will have relations living in the UK.
"We obviously cannot accommodate all of them."
The shadow secretary pointed to refugees from Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan and Hong Kong, where there are set schemes in place.
"We cannot have judges simply making up new schemes based on novel and expansive interpretations of human rights law," he continued.
Countries that refuse to take back offenders face visa shut-out, warn ministers
COUNTRIES that refuse to take back their offenders face a visa shut-out, ministers have warned.
Those who fail to co-operate in Britain’s deportation blitz would face sanctions, immigration minister Angela Eagle declared yesterday.
This could include blocking visas, making them more expensive, or deliberately delaying their approval.
Ms Eagle put foreign governments on notice after being challenged to use the powers from Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp.
She said: “If co-operation with countries falls below the levels expected, we stand ready to use all levers available to us to encourage action — including the power to impose visa penalties.”
Labour have pledged to ramp up returns for migrants with no right to be here, either because they have committed a crime or arrived illegally.
They have hailed 19,000 deportations since coming to power from July.
But most of these were voluntarily returns, and are still dwarfed by the 25,000 small boat arrivals in that time.
Officials say four of the UK’s biggest-ever deportation flights have already taken off, carrying more than 850 people.
Yesterday Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said releasing footage of deportations is part of efforts to restore public confidence in the immigration system.
She added: "That’s why, as part of the Government’s Plan for Change, we have put significant additional resource into immigration enforcement and returns, so those who have no right to be here, particularly those who have committed crimes in our country, are removed as swiftly as possible."
This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to restart the war in Gaza if Hamas chooses to delay the release of hostages.
Meanwhile US president Donald Trump threatened to unleash "hell" if the terror group doesn't honour its part of the ceasefire deal, and said Gazans will be moved to Jordan and Egypt.
Netanyahu issued his cautionary statement following an "in-depth four-hour discussion" with his security cabinet.
He said: "If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon, the ceasefire will end, and the IDF (Israeli military) will resume intense fighting until Hamas is decisively defeated."
Netanyahu said the cabinet "all expressed outrage at the shocking situation of our three hostages who were released last Saturday".
Trump has also doubled down on his own plans to take over Gaza and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East" and claimed there were "parcels of land" in Jordan and Egypt that Palestinians could move to.
The President met with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday who told Trump that his country would take in some 2,000 sick children from the war-torn land.
Speaking at the White House, Abdullah added that Egypt would present a proposal on how countries in the region could "work" with Trump on the plan, despite Arab nations and the Palestinians having rejected it outright.
Trump said: "They only want to be in the Gaza Strip because they don't know anything else, they've never had an alternative.
"They are being killed there at levels that nobody has ever seen - no place in the world is as dangerous as the Gaza Strip."
READ MORE SUN STORIES
This comes as Hamas accused Israel of "violations" including blocking Palestinians from returning to their homes, targeting them with "shelling and gunfire," as well as not allowing the agreed amount of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
Israel slammed Hamas over the claims, accusing the group of violating the ceasefire deal and chillingly warned that the IDF have been put on the "highest level of alert".
What happened on October 7?
ON OCTOBER 7, 2023, Hamas launched a brutal surprise attack on Israel, marking one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.
Terrorists stormed across the border from Gaza, killing over 1,200 people — most of them civilians — and kidnapping 250 others, including women, children, and the elderly.
The coordinated assault saw heavily armed fighters infiltrate Israeli towns, kibbutzim, and military bases, unleashing indiscriminate violence.
Innocent families were slaughtered in their homes, and graphic footage of the atrocities spread across social media, leaving the world in shock.
And as well as attacking people in their homes, they stormed the Nova music peace festival - killing at least 364 people there alone.
The massacre triggered a swift and massive retaliatory response from Israel, escalating into a full-scale war.
The attack not only reignited long-standing tensions in the region but also left deep scars on both sides of the conflict, setting the stage for the 15 months of devastation that followed.