Travel restrictions – from Israel and Europe – trap students in Gaza
When an email arrived two weeks after she applied for a scholarship from the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio in Italy, she felt, for a brief moment at least, that years of studying had finally paid off. The university confirmed that she had been offered a place for a master’s degree in economics and management, one of the few times during a long period of despair that Mariam had felt any hope about the future.
“Being accepted was like a ray of light that suddenly appeared and gave me a sense of life and hope again,” she told Al Jazeera. “I was applying for scholarships while feeling deeply hopeless and I never expected to receive an acceptance.”
The scholarship offer was not just an opportunity for Mariam to continue higher studies at a leading university but also offered hope of a new future amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. But securing a place at the university opened the door to a whole new set of challenges for Mariam.
Italy was a main destination for the evacuation of Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip between 2025 and 2026. Approximately 229 students were evacuated from Gaza prior to May 2026, with another group of around 40 students joining in June 2026. Part of the reason for the high demand is attributed to the lower living and tuition costs in Italy compared to many other European countries. In Italy, the annual figure for students is around €10,200 ($11,773), compared with the United Kingdom and 30,000 pounds ($40,408) to 60,000 pounds ($80,820) per year.
For Mariam, these still substantial costs were not the immediate challenge, the difficulty was how to reach Italy amid Israel’s siege on Gaza.
“I did not believe that travel had become guaranteed, because the acceptance was only the beginning of the journey,” she said. “There are still many steps and challenges that need to be overcome.”
Mariam applied for a visa and was approved, before she then contacted several organisations who may have been able to facilitate her journey to Italy. But Israeli restrictions on travel, made even tougher as a result of the US-Israeli war on Iran, mean that she has not yet been given permission to leave Gaza.