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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Sally Weale Education correspondent

Happy, stressed, overwhelmed: Palestinians evacuated from Gaza start their studies in UK

Man stands next to a UK flag, smiling and giving two thumbs up. Behind him is a coach, where a woman sits smiling.
Abdallah, 27, at a checkpoint leaving Gaza before travelling on to the UK. Smiling behind him is Soha, a 31-year-old midwife heading to Belfast. Photograph: handout

The young man emerging from a backstreet accommodation block in a bustling corner of east London looks much like any other student, getting to grips with his studies at the start of a new term. But 27-year-old Abdallah carries more of a burden than most. A qualified doctor, he has recently been evacuated from Gaza to begin his studies at Queen Mary University of London on a fully funded, government-backed Chevening scholarship.

As well as his work in hospitals, he has been striving for months on behalf of the dozens of Palestinian scholars like himself who have been stranded in war-torn Gaza awaiting evacuation by the British government to take up places in UK universities.

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