A Palestinian family have been granted the right to live in the UK following an appeal, after they applied to enter the country through a scheme designed for Ukrainian refugees.
The family of six, who have been granted anonymity, were displaced after their Gaza home was destroyed by an airstrike in the Israel-Hamas war.
A Home Office spokesman told the Daily Telegraph it had contested the claim “rigorously”.
The family initially applied for entry in January last year using the Ukraine Family Scheme to join the father’s brother, who has lived in the UK since 2007 and is a British citizen.
But that was refused in May last year after the Home Office concluded the requirements of the scheme were not met.
The family – comprising a mother, father and their four children aged between seven and 18 – then had an appeal against the decision dismissed by a first-tier immigration tribunal judge in September.
A further appeal was allowed by upper tribunal judges on the grounds of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right to family life, after a hearing in January.
Judge Hugo Norton-Taylor said there were “exceptional circumstances”.
He highlighted that the youngest children, now aged seven and nine, are “at a high risk of death or serious injury on a daily basis” in Gaza and that it is “overwhelmingly” in their best interests to be in a safe or safer environment together with their parents and siblings.
“We conclude that the respondent’s (Home Office’s) refusal of the collective human rights claim does not, on the particular facts of these cases, strike a fair balance between the appellants’ interests and those of the public,” his judgment said.
“On a cumulative basis, the weight we attach to the considerations weighing on the appellants’ side of the scales demonstrates a very strong claim indeed. Put another way, there are very compelling or exceptional circumstances.
“Accordingly, the appellants’ appeals are allowed.”
He also detailed submissions by the Home Office which argued the absence of a resettlement scheme for Palestinians in Gaza was a “significant” consideration, and that allowing the appeals would be “a leap” in terms of the UK’s obligations to allow family members living in conflicts entry.
The judge also referenced what he called a “floodgates” argument, in which the Home Office said an obligation to admit the family risked the same outcome applying to those in other conflicts around the world.
The Telegraph cited a Home Office spokesperson as saying: “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.”
A total of 56,800 people came to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, before it was closed last February.
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