Home Office tells Gaza academic his bid to bring family to UK not urgent

Bassem Abudagga losing hope after being told wife must go to visa application centre, of which none remain in Gaza

A Palestinian academic has failed in his latest attempt to be reunited with his family in the UK after the Home Office concluded their case was not urgent and it was more appropriate for his two children to remain with their mother in a tent in Gaza.

Bassem Abudagga was also told in a letter from Home Office officials that no reason had been found that was sufficiently compelling" to defer a requirement that his wife attend a visa application centre (VAC) in Gaza so she could provide fingerprints to satisfy the conditions for evacuation.