Dutch government to help students with visas travel from Gaza

The Netherlands has agreed to help a group of 47 Palestinian students who have been given work or study visas but were unable to get out of Gaza because Israel would not let them cross the border.

The students went to court in February to try to force the government to intervene, but judges said they had no power to force the foreign affairs ministry to offer consular support.

The court of appeal said in an interim ruling that the Netherlands was required to follow the diplomatic trail in Israel, but did not order it to provide logistical support.

The Dutch government said it had no obligation beyond asking Cogat, the Israeli defence ministry unit that manages the border, to grant the students permission to leave Gaza.

The students told the court they needed help to travel to Jordan to collect their visas before going on to the Netherlands. Politicians and representatives of the universities where they were due to study also lobbied the government to take a more active stance.

On Monday NOS reported that after months of stalemate, two students had been given the green light by Israel to leave Gaza, as part of a larger group headed for Spain and Italy. A journalist who was granted a Dutch work permit was also in the group, but is understood to be travelling to Italy.

The Dutch government is expected to liaise with aid agencies such as Unicef and the Red Cross on helping the other 45 Palestinians reach the Netherlands.