Gaza students visa row: 13 still blocked from Belgium
Thirteen students and researchers from Gaza who won scholarships at universities in Antwerp, Brussels, Hasselt and Leuven are still stuck in Gaza. The new academic year has started without them. To leave Gaza and apply for a visa at a Belgian consulate, they need Belgium to put them on an official evacuation list, and the federal government has not agreed to do so.
The government is divided. Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot (Les Engagés) proposed evacuating the students, but withdrew his plan on 11 September after the N-VA linked it to other files, including returns to Afghanistan and return hubs outside the EU. Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) warns of a "domino effect", saying the students could later apply for asylum or family reunification. University rectors call the situation unacceptable and say other countries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, have taken in around 170 Palestinian students.
Courts have stepped in for some of the students. In May and again in September, a Brussels judge ordered the Belgian state to accept a Gaza student's visa application submitted remotely, because Belgium has no consulate in Gaza. A visa alone does not get anyone out, however, because an evacuation is still needed.
The issue is also behind a hunger strike in the Béguinage church in central Brussels. On Sunday, two Palestinian hunger strikers who had been taken to hospital on Saturday returned to the church and continued their strike against medical advice, Belga reports. They want relatives in Gaza, some of whom already have Belgian family reunification visas, to be brought to Belgium. The last Belgian evacuation for visa holders took place in December 2025. Van Bossuyt said she sympathises, but that hunger strikes can never be used to force the government's hand.
What to do: if a family member in Gaza already has a Belgian visa, make sure the Foreign Affairs department (FPS Foreign Affairs) has their full details and contact information, and keep copies of all visa documents. A lawyer specialised in migration law can advise whether a court case, such as a request to submit a visa application remotely, could help in your situation.