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The foreign office, however, says evacuating citizens from Gaza is incredibly complex and that Britain can only offer support in exceptional circumstances.<\/p>\n
A Palestinian family of six who are stuck in the Gaza Strip<\/a> despite having permission to join a relative in Britain asked London’s High Court on Wednesday to make officials reconsider their refusal to ask Israel for help to leave the enclave.<\/p>\n Lawyers representing a Palestinian couple and their four children said the family was given leave to enter the UK to join a family member, who is a British citizen.<\/p>\n A London tribunal ruled earlier this year that the family should be permitted to enter the UK, in a decision which was publicly criticized by Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch in February.<\/p>\n But the family’s lawyers say Britain’s foreign ministry is refusing to provide assistance because it will not ask Israel whether the family can leave Gaza to provide the biometric data needed to travel to Britain, as there is no operating visa center in Gaza.<\/p>\n Tim Owen, a lawyer representing the family, said they were asking the High Court to order the foreign office to reconsider its decision.<\/p>\n