'Once-in-a-lifetime chance': Gaza scholars await UK evacuation to pursue studies

As students across the United Kingdom celebrated their university offers this summer, 27-year-old doctor Mahmoud received the news he had been waiting for — not from an exam board, but from the UK government.

Lying in a crowded shelter in central Gaza after a night shift treating trauma patients at a field hospital, Mahmoud learnt that he might finally be able to leave the war-torn territory to take up his prestigious scholarship at the London School of Economics. He has been awarded a place on a master’s programme in global health policy.

“I was very emotional and so grateful,” he said. “It gave me motivation to keep working. But I rarely wrote about it because of the uncertainty.”

Mahmoud is one of nine students in Gaza who this week received emails from the UK government offering assistance with evacuation. If successful, they will become the first scholars to leave the Strip for study in Britain since the war began.

The announcement follows months of campaigning by politicians, academics and charities on behalf of more than 80 Palestinian students awarded places at UK universities this year, about 50 of whom hold full scholarships.

For Mahmoud, who grew up in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, the opportunity represents both hope and heartbreak. He has dreamt of studying in the UK since childhood and believes his degree will one day help rebuild Gaza’s fragile healthcare system. But leaving his parents, wife and three siblings behind in the chaos of war will be a heavy burden.

“It feels like life after so much darkness,” he said. “A chance to finally move forward. But that joy is heavy with pain.”

Another scholar, 25-year-old Mohammed, was awarded a Chevening scholarship to study infectious diseases at the University of Glasgow. He described the moment he opened the email as transformative:

“I froze when I saw the word ‘congratulations’. For a moment, the bombs and terror around me disappeared. I felt hope.”

Mohammed insists his studies are not an escape, but a responsibility. “This opportunity is for research, for learning, and for returning better prepared to serve those who need it,” he said.

Yet while nine scholars have been contacted, many others remain in limbo. Manar, a 36-year-old English teacher from Rafah, has been forced to move 14 times during the conflict and is now living in a tent with her husband and three children. She has a Cara Fellowship to pursue a PhD in education at Glasgow but has yet to receive any evacuation offer.

“I haven’t slept for days,” she said. “I wonder which will come first — a call from the UK government or a missile.”

Her professor, Alison Phipps, a specialist in refugee integration at the University of Glasgow, expressed both joy and frustration. “I am delighted that some scholars are being evacuated, but all of them deserve the same chance. There seems to be a bureaucratic block that needs to be overcome.”

A UK government spokesperson said it was “working quickly” to facilitate the safe departure and onward travel of Chevening scholars, while also considering appeals from other Gazan students with UK places.

For now, Mahmoud continues his night shifts in makeshift wards, waiting. “If the UK government does not act now, it will affect not just us, but future applicants from Gaza and other conflict zones,” he warned.