YOUNG Palestinians offered places at Scottish universities are facing a "race against the clock" to escape Gaza before the academic year begins.
Ahmad Zuhair Abu Daqqa is one of countless Palestinians who have accepted an offer at the University of Glasgow.
The 20-year-old, from Khan Younis, has received an unconditional offer to study BEng electronic and software engineering, which he hopes to use to build education solutions in Gaza.
But, like so many other Palestinian students, Abu Daqqa is unable to leave Gaza due to staggering tuition costs, which he said the UK Government requires, must be sourced before his evacuation can be secured.
He has been left to raise more than £30,000 while living under Israel's brutal assault on Gaza, which the UN has stated amounts to genocide.
"Our home was destroyed in the very first days of the war, and we've been displaced more than five times since then," he told the Sunday National.
"Almost all the educational infrastructure in Gaza has been completely destroyed, and access to basic things like internet and electricity is extremely difficult."
Abu Daqqa said he risks his life every day "to keep learning", and has studied everywhere from a half-collapsed building to a hospital corridor.
"I grieve for what education in Gaza has become," he said.
"I've lost fellow students who were dreaming exactly what I was dreaming."
However, with just days to go to secure all the documents he needs to be evacuated, Abu Daqqa said that "time is running out".
He added: "I'm racing against the clock while living through war and displacement, trying every possible route before it's too late and I lose everything I've worked for.
"It's an incredibly difficult feeling. The right to education, the right to learn like anyone else my age, feels completely out of reach right now."
There are many other Palestinian students in similar situations, such as 20-year-old Mohammad Ayyad, who has accepted an offer to study artificial intelligence at the University of Glasgow and Toqa Qudaih, also 20, who is hoping to study biochemistry.
But other students have concluded that they will not be evacuated from Gaza in time for the start of the academic year, such as Qusay Alreqeb, who has an unconditional offer to study computing science at Glasgow.
Speaking to the Sunday National, Alreqeb, 20, said he felt a mixture of "heartbreak and exhaustion".
"Getting accepted into the University of Glasgow felt like a lifeline and a dream come true after everything we've been through," he said.
"But being stuck here in Gaza while watching the days slip away is devastating.
"We aren't just students missing an academic year; we are young people seeing our futures, hard work and dreams paused by circumstances completely beyond our control."
He added: "It feels like having the door to a bright future right in front of you, but being unable to step through it."
Campaigners have called for increased urgency from the UK and Scottish Governments, alongside the University of Glasgow, to ensure Palestinian students who have accepted their university places can be evacuated.
The Gaza Genocide Emergency Committee (GGEC), a network of pro-Palestine activists based in Glasgow, said they were "increasingly concerned for the plight of young people in Gaza" who are waiting to be evacuated to the city.
A GGEC spokesperson said: "There has been inadequate intervention and action by the Scottish Government, despite its recent pledge to facilitate and expand a support scheme for potential Palestinian students. University authorities should also be pushing the UK Government to expedite the necessary visa clearances to allow their immediate evacuation.
"In its genocidal attack on Palestinian infrastructure, the Israeli regime has systematically targeted and destroyed all the universities across Gaza, depriving aspiring students of their most cherished life experience and hopes of educational advancement.
"Coming to study in Scotland provides an invaluable chance of academic fulfilment."
The GGEC acknowledged that the Scottish Government has condemned Israel's brutal onslaught of Gaza as a genocide, has pledged to stop providing public funds to firms arming Israel, and that MSPs have voted for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) policy.
However, the spokesperson added that the group still awaits "the proper implementation and results of all such policies and promises", with ministers failing to implement a BDS policy almost one year on from the vote last September, while also strengthening ties with companies accused of complicity in the Israeli occupation.
The GGEC spokesperson added: "As term time for universities draws close, it would be a tremendous signal of solidarity with Gaza to see our campuses here in Scotland finally greeting, hosting and caring for these worried, yet eager, Palestinian students."
Meanwhile, Scottish Greens MSP Iris Duane called on both the UK and Scottish Governments to intervene and ensure Palestinian students are able to take up their places at the University of Glasgow.
She told the Sunday National: “For many Palestinian students currently stuck in Gaza, a place in a Scottish university is a lifeline. People are still being killed and trying to survive in the ruins of their homes in the ongoing genocide being carried out.
"It is vital that these students are given the support and safe passage that they need to come and study here in Scotland now, not next year or in the future."
Duane said the Scottish Government has "already worked hard to bring over critically ill children from Gaza" for treatment through UK-supported medical evacuations.
"Providing the help that young people need to rebuild their lives through higher education is an extension of this commitment to aiding those deeply impacted by such atrocities, left with nothing but that hope of a safe place to learn and live in," she said.
Duane continued: “We have a moral duty as a country to help others in need, and maintain our status as a welcoming, kind and caring country that wants to see people succeed no matter whether they were born here or born in Palestine.
"The Scottish and UK Governments must take every step to help these students take up their place this September.”
A University of Glasgow spokesperson said: "As a University of Sanctuary, we are committed to ensuring that anyone from anywhere in the world with the drive, determination and ambition to pursue a degree has the opportunity to do so.
"We welcome the UK Government's decision to extend the Gaza Evacuation Scheme for 2026–27 and will continue to work with government and relevant agencies to support implementation of the scheme and the evacuation of those who meet the eligibility criteria.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We unequivocally condemn the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza. There must be a sustained ceasefire and those responsible for alleged war crimes must face justice.
“Power over student visas and immigration is reserved to the UK Government. We are urgently working with UK Government departments and Scottish universities to make sure as many students as possible who meet eligibility criteria can begin their scholarships in Scotland.
“If these students are ineligible for support to leave Gaza and come to Scotland under this scheme, then the UK Government must give Palestinians a path to safety and stability to continue their education. Scotland stands ready to support students to come and study in our world-class institutions.”
The UK Government was approached for comment.
