Forty Gazan students to come to the UK to study in government-backed scholarship scheme

The lack of a processing site for biometric scans in Gaza was one of the key hurdles in the plan, with the UK closing its data centre in the Strip at the outbreak of the war.

Earlier this month, more than 70 Labour MPs signed a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on her to “defer biometric data screening for student visa applicants based in Gaza and open a safe passage to enable these young people to fulfil their academic dreams”.

The Home Office maintained that the checks “play a significant role in delivering security and facilitation in the border and immigration system”.

Now, though, a compromise has been reached in which students will be temporarily transferred to a third country to have the data collected and processed before travelling on to the UK.

This mirrors the approach used to allow a group of Gazan children to be medically evacuated to UK hospitals for treatment.

As confirmed this month, around 30 to 50 children will be selected by doctors in Gaza working for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health based on the severity of their need. They will then be handed over to the World Health Organisation (WHO) to be evacuated via a third country in coordination with the Home Office and Foreign Office.

Patients will be transferred with some of their family members – one adult and up to three other children.

The host country, in this case the UK, will cover the cost of housing, living expenses and treatment for each family. The latter expense will be covered on the NHS.

But the BBC also reported that some of those brought to the UK may subsequently be unable to return to Gaza and enter the asylum system instead.

Some Gazan children have already received medical treatment in the UK privately after being evacuated by Project Pure Hope (PPH). However, this is the first time the government will be directly involved in the transport and provide the treatment on the NHS.