'It's overwhelming' Students from Gaza get to grips with life in the UK

The young man emerging from a backstreet accommodation block in a bustling corner of east London looks much like any other student, getting to grips with his studies at the start of a new term.

- Sally Weale Education correspondent

But 27-year-old Abdallah carries more of a burden than most. A qualified doctor, he has recently been evacuated from Gaza to begin his studies at Queen Mary University of London, on a fully funded, government-backed Chevening scholarship.

As well as his work in hospitals, he has been striving for months on behalf of the dozens of Palestinian scholars like himself who have been stranded in war-torn Gaza, awaiting evacuation by the British government to take up places in UK universities.

He wrote letters to the former foreign secretary David Lammy and worked with overseas academics and lawyers to help make the evacuation happen. Now he's here, he admits to feeling overwhelmed.

"It's a strange mixture of feelings," he said. "Being happy, being stressed, sometimes being overwhelmed. Living in Gaza for 27 years, then getting here and being in London, it's completely shocking. The very basic things here are luxuries in Gaza."

This is his first time outside Gaza and at the beginning, even shopping was a challenge - after war and famine, such abundance at the local market was overwhelming. Leaving his family in Gaza has also been difficult. "I just feel like my head is impacted with very heavy clouds. It's very hard to think for now."

After months of uncertainty, rumours and counter rumours, Abdallah and the 33 other Palestinian scholars who made up the first cohort to leave Gaza for the UK finally touched down on 22 September after a brief stopover in Jordan to complete visa requirements. A second group have arrived since, and more are expected.