MEPs demand Belgium evacuate visa-holders from Gaza as winter flooding makes life catastrophic

As deadly floods worsen the already catastrophic conditions in Gaza, MEPs have urged the Belgian authorities and EU Commission to evacuate Palestinian families and university students holding Belgian visas after months of worry and unanswered questions. Many have been rendered homeless once more since heavy rain flooded tens of thousands of tents of displaced families in Gaza at the weekend, reportedly killing four children and leaving another half a million without shelter. In a letter sent last Wednesday (4 November), 17 MEPs from the Left, Greens/EFA, liberal group Renew Europe, as well as one non-attached member, implored the Belgian president and foreign minister, as well as Hadja Lahbib, EU commissioner for crisis management, to coordinate the evacuation of Belgian visa holders such as Bardees Abu Kweik , who are still trapped in Gaza. “We are still in Gaza, holding valid Belgian visas, yet we have no evacuation appointment and no clear information from the Belgian government,” Abu Kweik told EUobserver from the war-torn strip. She and her two children have been waiting to reunite with her husband in Belgium since her visa was accepted in February. One of her children, a 12-year old, has been in need of medical assistance after being injured in the war: “following the recent rain, my tent flooded, leaving me and my children out on the street. With my child suffering from a severe leg injury—exposed to the cold and rain—our situation has become significantly worse than before.” The letter counted 1,800 people in Gaza who currently hold a valid Belgian visa, 10 of whom are students granted places at Belgian universities, holding student visas, and (following highly-divisive parliamentary debates and two months of the semester already gone), are still being denied any assistance in leaving a war zone.