Gaza Genocide14 September, 20263 min read
Belgian Universities Condemn Government Over Gaza Students’ Evacuation Dispute
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Belgian university rectors condemn government refusal to evacuate 13 Gaza-bound scholarship students. Evacuation plan blocked amid coalition divisions and political bargaining.
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Belgium blocks Gaza students
Thirteen Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip who received scholarships and study visas to Belgian universities are still stranded in Gaza, with the issue of their evacuation turning into a political dispute inside Belgium’s government. Belgian universities’ presidents of the ten largest universities said the students were selected “through extremely strict procedures, based on their academic qualifications,” and they condemned what they described as an internal “unseemly political bargaining.” The dispute has been tied to coalition divisions, with Foreign Minister Mech de Brivot (Maxim) supporting receiving the students while the conservative New Flemish Alliance party, to which Prime Minister Bart De Wever belongs, opposed it in a Friday meeting, according to a government source.
The articles also say NGOs estimate about 1,500 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are waiting to go to Belgium, especially under family reunification arrangements, while obstacles include requiring students to personally apply for a visa at a Belgian diplomatic mission in Jerusalem or Cairo. In the same reporting, Belgian Minister of Asylum and Migration Annelies Van Bossuijt warned of a “domino effect” from the students’ arrival, including calls for their families to join them.
Rectors accuse horse-trading
Belgium’s top universities condemned on Monday the government’s refusal to help 13 students reach the country, with the rectors expressing “dismay” and accusing the administration of using the students as “bargaining chips” in “disgraceful political horse-trading.” The Times of Israel quotes the rectors writing, “They must not be treated as bargaining chips or as variables to be adjusted in political debates on migration,” as they urged that the students’ cases be assessed based on academic merit and the students’ intention to return to contribute to reconstruction. Middle East Eye reports that Brussels set aside plans to evacuate the Palestinian students last week in a case that split the coalition government, and it says Centrist Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has advocated evacuating the students but faced opposition from the Flemish conservative party of Prime Minister Bart De Wever.
The same Middle East Eye account says Prevot faced demands from a member of the five-party coalition for concessions on migration, including the creation of deportation centres, in return for greenlighting the evacuations. Middle East Eye also quotes the university chiefs saying “the obstacles cited do not stem from insurmountable constraints but rather from a lack of political will.”
What’s at stake next
The articles frame the immediate stakes as whether the admitted students can safely leave Gaza and begin their studies in Belgium, with TRT World reporting that rectors said the political deadlock over evacuation and arrival of the thirteen Palestinian scholarship students was “unacceptable.” TRT World also says the rectors reaffirmed that the students will not go to an asylum centre but to their student accommodation upon their arrival and will attend classes and continue their scholarship programmes, adding “The doors of our lecture halls remain open.” Al-Jazira Net describes how NGOs accuse Belgian authorities of “lacking political will” by placing obstacles in the students’ path, including requiring them to personally apply for a visa at a Belgian diplomatic mission in Jerusalem or Cairo, which one organization called “inhumane.”
The Times of Israel adds that the case is not isolated, noting that Palestinian students hoping to study in Italy, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Germany also reported delays in recent months, while it cites Israeli border crossing figures saying 10,500 people have exited the Gaza Strip since the October 2025 ceasefire. TRT World further links the broader conflict to the scale of harm, stating that Israeli violations of the agreement in place since October 11, 2025, have killed 1,372 Palestinians and wounded 4,659 others, as the overall death toll from Israel’s genocide has risen to 73,786 with 174,771 people injured.