Belgian officials fail to agree on an evacuation plan for 13 students and researchers from Gaza who have scholarships to study in Belgium. Students and supporters say they are devastated after the plan does not progress, leaving them unable to leave Gaza to take up places at Belgian universities.
The issue involves Belgium’s five-party coalition government, which reaches a deadlock. One scholarship holder, Ahmed Abujami, a 28-year-old doctor in Gaza, has a one-year master’s degree in public health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He says he is deeply disappointed and describes the programme as an opportunity to gain skills to help rebuild Gaza’s health system.
Across reporting, the focus is on the impact of the stalled government agreement rather than the specific details of the negotiations. The accounts describe the students’ immediate uncertainty and disappointment, while pointing to the political difficulty of arranging evacuation routes and coordination during the ongoing war in Gaza.
