Denmark opens asylum for Palestinians in Gaza

By Ebad Ahmed

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AA) – Denmark announced on Thursday that it will consider asylum applications from Palestinians in Gaza due to the extreme level of violence in the area, which poses a risk of abuse in violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights states that subjection to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is in breach of human rights. That justifies granting asylum to applicants from war-marred city of Gaza under Denmark’s immigration laws, it said.

The Danish Refugee Appeals Board (Flygtningenævnet) in a statement said that: “stateless Palestinians from Gaza who have benefited from protection or assistance from UNRWA will, as a general rule, have to be granted a residence permit”.

The refugee board confirmed that at total of four applicants for refugee status were pending before them. It accepted all four applications under different resident permit sections.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv said killed less than 1,200 people. At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.