Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Israeli Government on Mohammed Awad's application for an exit visa to study at a university in the UK.

Whilst we sympathise with Mr Awad, we are unable to intervene in his case. Due to the high number of such cases, we do not intervene as a general rule in cases regarding non-British nationals, with few exceptions such as in certain circumstances of extreme humanitarian need.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office regularly raises the issue of delay and refusal of exit permits with counterparts in the Israeli government. We have lobbied at the highest levels on easing restrictions on movement, including the Foreign Secretary to Prime Minister Netanyahu in August 2017. We are also concerned about the closure of the Rafah crossing and strongly encourage Egypt to show maximum flexibility on opening the crossing.