Abu Wadee asks to be removed from UK, but Home Office reportedly cannot return him to Gaza

Right · 2Abu Wadee, full name Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, a 34-year-old Palestinian, has posted videos asking to be removed from the UK, but the Daily Mail reports that the Home Office cannot currently send him back to Gaza. 1 2 Right · 2The Mail says it understands the reason is that Gaza remains an active conflict area, despite a ceasefire that has nominally been in place for about a year. The Express repeats this and attributes it to the Mail. The Home Office declined to comment on the case, citing a longstanding policy of not discussing individual cases. 1 2 Right · 2Wadee arrived in Britain by small boat in March 2025. The Mail on Sunday reported then that he was a former member of a militant group who had called for Allah to 'kill (Jews) one by one... don't leave a single one'. He was jailed for illegal entry, which the Express says was a nine-month sentence, and was released in December 2025 into asylum accommodation. 1 2

Right · 2Earlier this week the Northamptonshire Telegraph traced him to asylum accommodation in Corby, Northamptonshire, after he posted TikTok videos filmed in the town. He wears an electronic tag and has since been moved to a new location. 1 2 Right · 2In one video, translated from Arabic by the Mail, Wadee called on the Red Cross and human rights organisations to organise his removal from Britain, saying he wished to be relocated 'right now, before tomorrow', and citing press attention. 1 2 Right · 2Wadee denies being antisemitic and says he no longer supports Hamas, claiming he spoke against Jews only under duress in Gaza. He told the Northamptonshire Telegraph he has Jewish friends. The Express reports he confirmed membership of the Hamas-linked 'Tyre-Burning Unit' and said the calls for killing Jews were 'eight years ago'. The Mail reports he now says he was a construction worker belonging to no faction and that photos of him with guns were taken at weddings. 1 2

Right · 1The Mail describes the Tyre-Burning Unit as a Hamas-affiliated faction that threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops during the 2018 Great March of Return protests. It cites images of him throwing rocks and posing with assault rifles, and a quote in which he boasted of sending flaming kites into Israel. A 2019 UN report it cites said Hamas 'encouraged or defended demonstrators' use of incendiary kites and balloons'. 1 Right · 1Corby's Labour MP Lee Barron has written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood demanding deportation, saying Wadee's presence put 'a target on the back' of the town's other asylum seekers. The Campaign Against Antisemitism called the situation 'a complete farce'. 1 Right · 2A government spokesman said any foreign national receiving a prison sentence is referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity and barred from returning. The spokesman added that over 11,000 foreign criminals have been returned or deported in the two years since the last election, a 41 per cent increase on the prior two years. 1 2

Right · 1The Mail links the case to wider pressure on the Home Office. It says Mahmood this week reopened the UK Resettlement Scheme to Palestinians, and that staff were ordered to flag Palestinian asylum claims for 'reputational risk' after a former bodyguard to the Hamas leader was allowed to remain following an appeal. The Home Office has not been quoted on either point. 1