This is what you need to know if you are a Palestinian refugee in the Netherlands
Share on social media:
If you would like to know how the war between Israel and Hamas will affect your asylum or family reunification, or you want to travel to Israel or the Palestinian territories to help family members, read more about this here.
These are the consequences of the situation in Gaza for your asylum procedure in the Netherlands
If you have fled from the West Bank or Israel and recently applied for asylum in the Netherlands, the
If you fled Gaza and applied for asylum in the Netherlands, the IND will not make a negative decision about your asylum procedure. This means you will have interviews with the IND, but you will not be sent back to Gaza during that period and the IND will not make a decision on your asylum application.
If it is clear that you are seeking asylum with individual reasons that have nothing to do with the current war situation in Gaza, the IND may well give a positive ruling on your asylum application,
You can apply for accelerated family reunification for relatives in Gaza
Do you have an asylum residence permit in the Netherlands and have applied for family reunification for your family members in Gaza? If so, you can ask for your application to be processed more quickly. The IND will now process applications for family members from Gaza first.
However, it is not clear how long such a procedure will take. If the IND decides that your family from Gaza may come to the Netherlands, your family members must be able to cross the border from Gaza to Egypt. There, they must then collect the entry visa from the Dutch embassy to travel from Egypt to the Netherlands. And they may still need to get permission from the Egyptian authorities to travel out of Egypt.
In order to apply for family reunification, you must have a Dutch residence permit. If you have applied for asylum and the IND has not yet approved the application, you cannot apply for family reunification for your family members.
The Dutch government advises Palestinian refugees not to travel to Palestinian territories
If you have relatives in Israel or the Palestinian territories and want to go there, this is virtually impossible and is discouraged by the Dutch government.
View Dutch travel advice for the Palestinian territories here.
View the Dutch travel advice for Israel here
Find out more about your situation below:
I have applied for asylum and want to return temporarily to the Palestinian territories
Leaving the Netherlands during the asylum procedure can have major negative consequences for the asylum procedure. This is because you are returning to the country where you are at risk. This can cause the IND to reject your asylum application.
The IND can also stop your asylum application if you cannot be at your interview with the IND or if you leave the Netherlands and do not let the IND know. If you do travel to these areas, there is no guarantee that you can return to the Netherlands. The IND will not issue a return visa to the Netherlands.
I have an asylum residence permit and want to return temporarily to the Palestinian territories
The IND may in some cases revoke your asylum residence permit if you go to these areas. This is because you are returning to the country where you are at risk.
You can, however, travel to a country other than your country of origin. If you are from Palestinian territory and have not previously lived in Israel or Jordan, you can, for example, travel to Israel or Jordan without risking having your permit revoked.
The Red Cross helps you if your family is missing in the Palestinian territories
The Red Cross can help search for missing relatives in the Palestinian territories. The area is difficult to access and emergency assistance is limited. Therefore, the Red Cross may not be able to help you immediately.
The Red Cross