The Home Secretary has won her bid to prevent the family of six from coming to live in the UK. EPA
The Home Secretary has won her bid to prevent the family of six from coming to live in the UK. EPA
The Home Secretary has won her bid to prevent the family of six from coming to live in the UK. EPA
The Home Secretary has won her bid to prevent the family of six from coming to live in the UK. EPA

Gazan families blocked from entering Britain under Ukraine scheme after government appeal


Lemma Shehadi
  • English
  • Arabic

The UK’s Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has successfully appealed against a court verdict which allowed a family in Gaza to apply for entry to the UK under a scheme devised for Ukrainian refugees.

The family of six, who were last known to be living in a tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp, were granted permission to come to the UK to live with the father’s brother in September last year. But the Home Office challenged the decision, with the Court of Appeal ruling in the government’s favour on Wednesday.

Citing Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights, the family and the brother in the UK had successfully argued that not being allowed to come to the UK would be a breach of the article’s “right to family life”.

In line with Home Office guidelines which ask applicants to chose “the route which most closely matches your circumstances”, the family applied through a scheme devised for Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion. That form is the only one related to people fleeing war zones.

The family are said to be at increased risk in Gaza owing to their “anti-Hamas profile” in addition to the “indiscriminate and lethal attacks” from Israel’s military campaign.

“Their position is extremely dangerous. Law and order have broken down in Gaza and there is a dire humanitarian situation,” the court acknowledged. But the judges agreed with government lawyers that family dependents do not apply to adult siblings, and that children living in a war zone was not a “trump card” for admission into the UK.

The Home Secretary has agreed to stand by the entry clearance the family were given last year, which means they will still be able to come to the UK if they are able to leave Gaza. But the judgment sets a precedent for other refugees seeking to apply for entry to the UK through the Ukrainian scheme and Article 8 of the ECHR.

The judges concluded that though the brother in the UK was supporting his brother in Gaza, this was not enough to show that the family were his dependents. The Home Secretary had argued that the Upper Tribunal’s decision to allow the family into the UK also went against the government’s immigration policies.

The judges agreed with this position and said the Upper Tribunal had “wrongly” given too much weight to the family and the children’s plight.

“Put bluntly, the [Home Secretary] argued that the UK has no duty to protect the lives of foreign nationals in a foreign country, just because they enjoy some family life with someone lawfully in the UK,” they said. “Ultimately we agree … that the children’s best interests were wrongly treated by the Upper Tribunal as paramount (in other words as a trump card),” they said.

The court also said the immigration tribunals needed to take the Home Secretary’s policies into account, and that the issue was a “question of response for the UK’s laws and democratic process … to protect and economic well-being of the UK and the rights of its citizens”.

It comes days after Ms Mahmood said she would be looking at new ways of limiting Article 8.

“The courts have adopted an ever-expanding interpretation of this right,” she said in a statement last week. “Many people have been allowed to come to this country, when they would otherwise have had no right to, and we have been unable to remove others when the case for doing so seems overwhelming,” she said.

Brighton 1
Gross (50' pen)

Tottenham 1
Kane (48)

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Scoreline:

Everton 4

Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', ​​​​​​​Digne 56', Walcott 64'

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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8 UAE companies helping families reduce their carbon footprint

Greenheart Organic Farms 

This Dubai company was one of the country’s first organic farms, set up in 2012, and it now delivers a wide array of fruits and vegetables grown regionally or in the UAE, as well as other grocery items, to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi doorsteps.

www.greenheartuae.com

Modibodi  

Founded in Australia, Modibodi is now in the UAE with waste-free, reusable underwear that eliminates the litter created by a woman’s monthly cycle, which adds up to approximately 136kgs of sanitary waste over a lifetime.

www.modibodi.ae

The Good Karma Co

From brushes made of plant fibres to eco-friendly storage solutions, this company has planet-friendly alternatives to almost everything we need, including tin foil and toothbrushes. 

www.instagram.com/thegoodkarmaco

Re:told

One Dubai boutique, Re:told, is taking second-hand garments and selling them on at a fraction of the price, helping to cut back on the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown into landfills each year.

www.shopretold.com

Lush

Lush provides products such as shampoo and conditioner as package-free bars with reusable tins to store. 

www.mena.lush.com

Bubble Bro 

Offering filtered, still and sparkling water on tap, Bubble Bro is attempting to ensure we don’t produce plastic or glass waste. Founded in 2017 by Adel Abu-Aysha, the company is on track to exceeding its target of saving one million bottles by the end of the year.

www.bubble-bro.com

Coethical 

This company offers refillable, eco-friendly home cleaning and hygiene products that are all biodegradable, free of chemicals and certifiably not tested on animals.

www.instagram.com/coethical

Eggs & Soldiers

This bricks-and-mortar shop and e-store, founded by a Dubai mum-of-four, is the place to go for all manner of family products – from reusable cloth diapers to organic skincare and sustainable toys.

www.eggsnsoldiers.com

The Beach Bum

Director: Harmony Korine

Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Snoop Dogg

Two stars

Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

About RuPay

A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank

RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards

It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.

In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments

The name blends two words rupee and payment

Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

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Updated: November 28, 2025, 6:36 AM