Teen scholar trapped in Gaza after being blocked by Home Office from joining her mum in UK
Dania Alafranji has not seen her mother in two years. They have been separated by the war and the UK government policy is blocking them from being reunited
by:
30 Oct 2025
Hayat Ghalayini and her daughter Dania, who was then aged 14. Image: Supplied
Share
A 16-year-old school girl who is currently trapped in Gaza has been awarded a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school in England, where her mother lives, but UK government policy is blocking them from being reunited.
Hayat Ghalayini has not seen her four daughters in two years. They are stuck in Gaza and, despite Hayat having residency in Manchester through marriage, the government has refused entry to Palestinian refugees even if they have family members living here.
Hayat’s youngest daughter, 16-year-old Dania Alafranji, has been awarded a scholarship to an elite private boarding school Reddam House in Berkshire – renewing hope that they might be reunited.
But the UK government does not allow children with scholarships to independent schools to come to Britain from Gaza, even if the school is prepared to cover their living costs and course fees.
Although Britain has evacuated Palestinian students with full scholarships to universities in the UK, government policy explicitly excludes pupils with places at independent schools from receiving the same assistance.
The Home Office told the Big Issue they do not comment on individual cases but confirmed that only students over the age of 18 are eligible for this support.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Hayat, who spoke to the Big Issue through a translator, said: “I feel extreme worry and sadness and fear for Dania. I felt this before the ceasefire and I am continuing to feel the same way. I am very worried that my daughter’s growing up away from me and she won’t recognise me if she sees me.”
Dania was unable to secure consistent internet connection to speak over the phone so spoke to the Big Issue through voice notes.
“I’m pretty sure that when my mother sees me she will be so surprised by how much I’ve changed these past two years,” the 16-year-old said. “Mentally, I have grown beyond my age and physically I grew some inches, and also my hair has grown so long because I have been waiting the whole time just to get a haircut with my mother.”
Hayat was separated from Dania and her three older sisters in the chaos of displacement and bombardment of October 2023. Israel launched its attacks on Gaza following a massacre by Palestinian group Hamas on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. As of 22 October 2025, more than 69,000 Palestinians were said to have been killed.
The sisters made the difficult decision to ask their mother, who was able to come to the UK through her marriage to their stepfather, to evacuate. They believed their family had the best hope if Hayat came to the UK.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Hayat and Dania when they were together before the war in Gaza. Image: Supplied
“It was a nightmare,” Hayat said. “I wasn’t living. My whole life was halted. I was living phone call to phone call, message to message, feeling absolutely helpless that I can’t protect her and take care of her and reassure her with all the fear and loud noises. It is even not being able to provide the basic needs any mother could provide for their child. It has been very difficult.”
Dania agrees that the last two years have been “difficult in every way you can imagine”. After being displaced, she faced homesickness and desperately missed her mother.
“Famine hit harder than you could ever imagine. It was so mentally tiring, especially for my sisters. They were trying to figure out what we were going to eat and we were splitting food equally because there was not enough food for a normal human being. The evacuation orders were getting closer and closer to us,” Dania said.
“Trying to sleep a whole full night without waking up from a mini heart attack was a dream. Also, gunpowder was all over the place. We used to wear face masks just to protect our lungs. One day, it was 12am and I was trying to sleep, and out of nowhere, I heard a very close bombing and the glass shattered all over me. That was when my sisters decided that we were evacuating to the south.”
Before the war, they had lived a peaceful life. Dania was team captain of her basketball team and was an active “straight-A” student. Her mother spent hours daily helping her study.
Hayat says: “Dania has lost two years academically of her education. That has caused me and Dania, who is very academic and ambitious, a lot of worry and anxiety.”
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
There is currently a ceasefire in Gaza, but Israel has violated the deal and airstrikes have continued.
“I am still worried,” Hayat says. “The aftermath of the onslaught has been difficult. Historically speaking, ceasefires have always been fragile and they’re not at all guaranteed.
Hayat and Dania would love to be reunited again. Image: Supplied
“The whole country has been destroyed. It’s a different life now – a life that I’m not familiar with. And the ceasefires have never held. They’ve always been very fragile. And even before the genocide, the situation has always been difficult and worrisome.”
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in the UK has requested Dania’s personal information, including full names, dates of birth, and passport types, but it has not provided any updates for more than two weeks.
“For two years, I have been approaching the government, approaching anyone I can to help with this. I don’t understand why it’s so complicated, given that a lot of Ukrainian students came and were integrated into society, and none of them had any ties to the UK. I don’t understand why it’s difficult to do the same for Dania,” Hayat says.
The Big Issue spoke to British families with loved ones trapped in Gaza in early 2024, as they called for their loved ones to be evacuated to the UK with a Ukraine-style family visa scheme. But the Home Office said they had no plans to set this up.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
“At this point in life, all I want is to be reunited with my daughter, and to try and compensate for the two years that I’ve been apart from her and make up for it. This is all I can think about and all I want,” Hayat said.
A spokesperson for Reddam House said: “We are immensely proud of our commitment to providing scholarships to children both in the UK and around the world, creating life-changing opportunities through education.
“While we celebrate the opportunities these scholarships provide, we are aware of the extraordinary challenges faced by some of our incredibly deserving recipients. Although we cannot comment on individual applications, we will always work closely with students and their families.
“We are also committed to remaining flexible in our arrangements, which could include providing the option to defer their studies, if appropriate, ensuring that every student has the best possible chance to benefit fully from this opportunity.”
Hayat is calling on the UK government to look at their case from a “humanitarian perspective”. Dania is a child who has been separated from her mother for two years. She asks anyone who might be able to help their family to reach out.
