British-Palestinians ask PM for urgent meeting over Gaza

A British-Palestinian group has written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, asking for an "urgent meeting" about Gaza.

The letter also urges the UK government to "use its influence" to call for a ceasefire.

It was sent, earlier on Monday, by the UK-based International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.

The ICJP said it was speaking "on behalf of members of the Palestinian community in the UK with families and loved ones living in Gaza".

The group said it wanted a meeting "to express our concerns, similar to the meetings you have had with other British communities who have families in the region who have experienced distress similar to ours".

Calls for humanitarian pauses were "inadequate", it said. And the government's failure to call for a ceasefire "is putting our loved ones in danger and is contributing to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis".

"It also ignores our voices as British citizens with friends and family under attack in Gaza," the ICJP said.

BBC News has asked the prime minister's office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) for a response.

Mr Sunak has previously said he supports "specific pauses" in the conflict to allow humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza, "as distinct from a ceasefire".

Since the Hamas attacks on 7 October, he has also visited Israel and said he "absolutely" supported the country's "right to defend itself, in accordance with international law".

Six British-Palestinians told a press conference dozens of their family members had been killed in Gaza.

Lubaba Khalid, who stepped down from chairing the Young BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) Labour network last month, over comments made by Labour leader Keir Starmer, said she had found out on social media her relatives had been killed.

"Due to the lack of electricity and networks, we have found it very difficult keep in touch with family members just to check if they're alive," she said.

"As a result, I found out my great uncle's house was bombed, on the social-media platform X [formerly known as Twitter] before I could get any confirmation from my own family."

Six members of her family had been killed in that bombing, she said, five of them children.

Accountant Omar Mofeed accused the UK government of "double standards" in its treatment of those evacuating Gaza.

Non-British family members of British nationals who have fled Gaza and are now in Cairo currently need to apply for British family visas from Egypt.

And Mr Mofeed pointed to the visa schemes available to those fleeing war in Ukraine, including the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme - also known as Homes for Ukraine - and the Ukraine Family Scheme, both of which are free for those applying.

The FCDO has previously told BBC News it is in "regular contact with British nationals in Gaza, to provide them with the latest information" and is working with the Home Office to process visas for non-British family members of British nationals who have left Gaza.