The 32-year-old woman could be evacuated by the UK government after her plight was highlighted y the Sunday Mail.
Gaza student Shaymaa(Image: UGC)
A Gazan woman backed to come to Scotland by the Sunday Mail to study looks set to be evacuated by the UK Government.
Shaymaa, 32, has a fully-funded scholarship for a PhD in English Literature at Edinburgh University but has been unable to take up the place because of UK visa processing problems.
She is one of dozens of students with UK university places stuck in war-torn Gaza.
After the Sunday Mail highlighted her plight, Shaymaa and about 40 other students with full scholarships are preparing to be evacuated from the region after reports last week that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper approved plans to get them out.
We understand the Home Office is working at pace to negotiate a way for the students to leave but the group has yet to be given any details and courses are due to start this week.
Shaymaa said: “I’ve just read the news but we haven’t been given any information yet.
“We were told to expect official emails last week but we’ve heard nothing.
“Hopefully as soon as possible we’ll know what is happening.”
The former lecturer said having the chance to study in Scotland would not only give her a better education but it would literally save her life.
She is living in a tent with 11 family members and spends almost every day looking for water and food while trying to avoid Israeli bombardment.
The Sunday Mail raised her plight with the UK Government and First Minister John Swinney, who previously demanded Westminster take urgent action to help her come to Scotland.
Edinburgh MP Christine Jardine has been lobbying the Foreign Office for months on her behalf as well as for the 10 other students with funded places in Scotland.
She is among scores of MPs who have raised the issue with ministers.
The Home Office is understood to have now made a plan to get around 40 students who have funded scholarships out of Gaza, out of more than 70 in total with UK university places.
A Home Office source said the operation would be “complex” but that Home Secretary Cooper was determined to get the students to safety.
Christine Jardine
Jardine, Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, said: “I’ve been back in touch with the Foreign Office this week to ask for clarity, especially as some courses start in a matter of days.
“I hope the lack of a response is due to their focus on making sure the evacuations take place as quickly as possible, as time is ticking and students are rightly worried about getting here on time.
“I am in regular contact with Edinburgh University and will do what I can to assist the safe passage of those due to start a course in our city.”
The UK Government had said students must go through biometric processing – where fingerprints and photos are recorded – to be considered for a visa.
Normally, they would select their nearest processing centre but the facility in Gaza is closed and all routes out of the region are blocked due to the Israeli bombardment, leaving them with no way to complete the checks.
It is understood as part of the evacuation plan they’d be taken to a centre in a nearby country to complete the processing before coming to the UK.
Shaymaa and her peers would be the first to leave Gaza since the war with Israel began in October 2023.
The conflict started after terrorist group Hamas took dozens of Israelis hostage, with many still imprisoned.
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It is understood every individual student’s evacuation would have to be approved by Israeli authorities.
The IPC, a UN-backed body responsible for monitoring food security, declared famine in Gaza City earlier this month and more than half a million people across Gaza are facing “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death”.
A Foreign Office spokesman didn’t give details of the additional scholarship students evacuation.
He said: “We are working urgently to support Chevening Scholars in Gaza who have offers from British universities to leave and take up their places in the UK.
“We are doing everything we can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK, but the situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.”