A PALESTINIAN mother has died of cancer in Gaza after she was refused help by the UK Home Office – just seven months after giving birth to her son.
Maryam was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma while her application for evacuation was being processed by the UK Government.
The cancer spread from her kidneys to her lungs, and doctors in Gaza did not have the facilities to treat her.
In official documents seen by The National, the Home Office acknowledged that Maryam had cancer, but still refused the request to join her brother-in-law in Glasgow.
Officials concluded the family's situation did not meet the threshold for "compelling circumstances", insisting that pre-entry checks needed to be carried out because they came from "a territory where terrorists operate".
Israel's brutal bombardment of the enclave, which the UN has determined amounts to genocide, has damaged or completely destroyed the vast majority of Gaza's hospitals. The British Medical Association estimates just 6% remains intact.
Maryam died on August 28, less than three months after being diagnosed and just seven months after giving birth to her son Ismail.
Family members have now spoken of their shock, accusing the UK Government of "playing games with them".
Speaking to The National, Maryam's brother-in-law Anwar, who is now based in Glasgow after fleeing Gaza in 2020, said the Home Office has failed to show "humanity".
Anwar applied to bring Maryam, his brother Hassan – who is Maryam's husband – the couple's two young children, along with other family members, to the UK in October 2025.
But the Home Office rejected their application, on the grounds they had been unable to provide biometric data.
The evacuation process required the family to travel to a visa application centre (VAC) to carry out biometric checks. However, there are no VACs in Gaza – and it is virtually impossible for Palestinians to leave and access a VAC elsewhere.
The family appealed the rejection in April this year, urging the Home Office to waive this requirement by granting "a biometric excusal and a predetermination" of their applications – but the Home Office refused again.
A third rejection was issued in July, following a legal challenge by the family in which lawyers said: "It is difficult to understand what circumstances would ever qualify as compelling if the present circumstances do not."
Maryam was diagnosed with cancer after the second rejection. The family provided the Home Office with evidence of Maryam's illness, including cancer test results and medical scans, along with evidence of their living conditions in Gaza.
"Their homes have been destroyed and they are living in tents in extremely dangerous conditions," Anwar explained.
"I speak with them on the telephone, and I hear the bombs, I hear the shooting."
Home Office officials accepted that Maryam had cancer and that "given the current situation in Gaza, reliable healthcare may not be accessible".
They also accepted that she was facing a significant risk of harm because she was in a conflict zone and could not travel to a VAC.
However, they concluded that due to the difficulty in travelling to a VAC, it was "in the best interests of the children to stay with their parents and delay travel to the UK".
Anwar has started a GoFundMe page to raise money for his family, believing it to be the only way he can support his loved ones who remain in Gaza.
"I have no issue with Scotland," Anwar said. "I love my community here, and I appreciate what Scotland is doing for us and how people are supporting Palestine.
"I don't blame them because this decision didn't come from then, it comes from London. Where is the humanity?"
Anwar added: "Maryam deserved to come here and have treatment. Hassan deserves, his kids deserve, to be safe.
"Yesterday, just metres away from my family they [the Israeli military] killed one family, all with one missile. The man, his wife and two kids, they killed them all.
"My family are living in hell."
Hassan, Maryam's husband, told The National he is "deeply shocked" with the response of the Home Office.
Speaking from Gaza, he said: "Britain has always spoken about human rights, and one of the most basic human rights is to receive appropriate medical treatment and healthcare.
"My entire family consists of children and a woman suffering from a serious illness.
"Does this family represent a threat to Britain's security? If Maryam had been a woman from Europe or Ukraine, would they have treated her in this way?"
Hassan added: "I am now appealing to the relevant authorities to help me and my children, especially this infant who lost his mother at just seven months old, to leave this devastated and collapsing territory that is no longer fit for life, and to allow me to join my brother in Glasgow."
The Home Office said it would not comment on individual cases.
This article uses first names only to protect the identities of those involved.
