UK red tape and ‘broken promises’ mar Gaza family’s escape from war zone

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A British woman, caught with her family in the war zone of Gaza, has spoken of her frustration at the bureaucracy placed in their path as they fled to safety to rebuild their lives in the UK.

Yosra Al Shanti shared with media her journey to secure safety for herself and her loved ones and the feelings of frustration that promises by authorities were not kept.

Despite returning to the UK, where she was born and raised, she has been left disappointed by the lack of support she has been given.

“We expected to leave Palestine and go to England straight away,” Ms Al Shanti said, reflecting on her family’s ordeal navigating their escape from the conflict in Gaza.

However, this expectation was far from the reality they encountered, after having left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

“We were evacuated from a war, not because we wanted to, but we had to, and you had the responsibility of taking us out of the war and you just left us in Cairo,” she said in a message to the UK government.

Ms Al Shanti was born and raised in Manchester. She decided to travel to Gaza, where her uncles and aunt live, to study.

There she met her husband Ibrahim Taha and got married. They have two children and are expecting a third.

After the events of October 7, and Israel’s military response, they decided it was time to leave and head to the UK.

Her father, Dr Nasser Al Shanti, a senior lecturer at Metropolitan University in Manchester, started making inquiries to help his daughter and her family leave Gaza.

Four weeks after the onset of military action, Ms Al Shanti and her family were on a list to leave Rafah once the border crossing was opened.