AC-2025-LON-000997 - [2025] EWHC 1970 (Admin)

BSJ was an interpreter and foreign relations co-ordinator for the security services of the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority (“PA”). BEL, his elder brother, also worked for the PA. Hamas were and are political opponents of Fatah. When Hamas came to power in Gaza in 2007, BSJ came to the UK on a Tier 2 worker visa. He has worked here ever since and was naturalised as a British citizen more than ten years ago. He has not returned to Gaza out of fear for his personal safety, but has remained in close contact with the claimants.

BEL and BEB remained in Gaza, living with BEL’s parents. Their children were born in 2006, 2007, 2015 and 2017. BEL received a stipend from the PA but was prevented from working by Hamas. One of BEL’s and BSJ’s uncles was murdered by an Islamist group. Other family members suffered threats and discriminatory treatment.

On 7 October 2023, Hamas carried out coordinated attacks against civilians across Israel and took hostages. The Israeli military responded with a military campaign in Gaza aimed at defeating Hamas and rescuing the hostages.

On 20 October 2023, the claimants received a 10-minute notification from the Israeli military that their apartment block in Al-Zahra was to be bombed. They left with their travel documents, but had no time to gather even a few spare clothes before they left. The building was entirely destroyed. They went to Khan Yunis. In December 2023, after Israel warned of an impending ground invasion, they fled to Al Mawasi near Rafah, where they lived in a tent. They moved to Nuseirat in late 2024 and to Deir al-Balah in April 2025. There, they rent an area of ground beneath a 3-storey stilted building, where they have pitched their tent.

In a witness statement dated 6 May 2025, BSJ says that he is terrified to think of them living under a building, in case it is shelled. The situation for BEL and his family was getting worse by the day. Their access to food was becoming more limited due to Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid entering Gaza. What little food was available was being sold at extortionate prices. The family were not getting enough protein.

In a further witness statement dated 18 June 2025, BSJ said that the family situation had deteriorated further. In late May 2025, the US company Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began to distribute aid in a few locations. The distribution sites are surrounded by the Israeli military. BEL, BCC and BEC started going to the site near the Netzarim Corridor on 30 May 2025. They walked for 1½ hours to get there. When they arrived, they were made to wait between fences for aid boxes. On the first day, an Israeli quadcopter broadcast a message that there was no aid left. On each occasion when they visited the site, there was violence from Israeli soldiers. This included the use of grenades, firing into the air and firing towards people approaching the distribution centres.

On 2 June, BEL, BCC and BEC attended the same site again. Soldiers shouted through loudspeakers that they should come back on 3 or 4 June, while firing live rounds above their heads. On 3 June 2025, they attended again, were fired upon by Israeli soldiers and narrowly escaped being injured. They could see the bullets landing close to them “making the sand jump”. On the night of 9-10 June 2025, BEL and BEC walked to the site again, trying to get there early. BSJ explains:

“…as BEL and BEC approached the distribution point get aid, alongside crowds of others, the Israeli military opened fire. It was complete chaos, like a full-scale attack on the people trying to get food. A tank shell was launched and exploded about 10m away from BEC and BEL. Shrapnel from the explosion, a ball bearing, hit BEC and lodged into his left hand/wrist. BEL also sustained impact wounds to his legs”.

BEL and BEC went to a field hospital, where the medical staff could not remove the shrapnel from BEC’s wrist. They had no sedatives, so “[t]hey just patched him up and sent him off”. BEC was 18. He had lost friends and was terrified that he might die. His arm was starting to get numb and painful.

The events described in BSJ’s witness statement of 18 June 2025 were not before the decision-maker when she took the challenged decision on 6 June 2025, but those events have not caused the Foreign Secretary to reconsider.