A Palestinian militant who was jailed for entering Britain illegally and called for the slaughter of Jews has asked to be deported from the country.
But Abu Wadee, full name Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, currently cannot be sent back to Gaza – because the Home Office has no safe means of getting him there.
Shortly after he arrived in Britain in a small boat in March 2025 flashing a V sign in a selfie, Wadee was exposed by The Mail on Sunday as 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 into Britain two months later before being released in December and moved into asylum accommodation.
Wadee was traced to a home in Corby this week. He now claims he no longer supports Hamas, only doing so under duress whilst in Gaza, and has denied that he is antisemitic.
The 34-year-old, who wears an electronic tag, has since been bundled out of the house and sent to a new location – from which he has posted videos asking to be removed from the country altogether, citing attention from the press.
In one video translated from Arabic for the Mail, Wadee said: ‘I am calling upon the Red Cross and human rights organisations all over the world to organise my removal from Britain. I wish to be relocated right now, before tomorrow.’
The Daily Mail understands, however, that the Home Office cannot remove him from the country because Gaza remains an active conflict area, despite a cease-fire ostensibly being in place for the last year.
Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, known better as Abu Wadee, has asked to be deported from the UK after his history as a Palestinian militant was exposed by the press
Wadee, 34, was a member of the ‘Tyre-Burning Unit’, a Hamas-affiliated faction that threw rocks and firebombs at Israeli troops during border clashes in 2018
The Palestinian arrived in the UK in March on a small boat, throwing a peace sign to the camera as the dinghy was met by a Border Force ship
However, he continues to face calls for his immediate deportation given his criminal conviction and his history of militant activism.
Whilst still at home, Wadee was a member of the ‘Tyre-Burning Unit’, a Hamas-affiliated unit that operated during the Great March of Return protests on the Israel-Gaza border in 2018, throwing rocks and fire bombs at Israeli troops.
The Great March of Return protests began independently among the civilian population but were soon heavily backed by Hamas, which ‘encouraged or defended demonstrators’ use of incendiary kites and balloons’, according to a 2019 UN report.
Images of Wadee hurling rocks and posing with a tear gas grenade in his mouth were published in the press at the time, while on social media, he shared videos of himself throwing pipe bombs towards Israeli forces.
He even bragged to Felesteen, a Hamas-affiliated newspaper in Gaza, of sending flaming kites into Israel, adding: ‘The kite only costs us three shekels (75p), but in return it costs the occupation much more because of the fires it causes.’
Other posts show him posing for photos with assault rifles, including in front of a poster of Rouzan al-Najjar, a volunteer medic killed by Israeli troops in June 2018. He tagged the image: ‘Be a leader, for history does not remember the soldiers’.
However, Wadee now claims to be a construction worker in Gaza who did not belong to any faction – and that pictures of him with guns were taken at weddings, as is custom.
‘They publish reports about me and bring old photos of me carrying a weapon while I was in Gaza… those photos were at weddings,’ he said in one video.
‘We all know our customs and traditions at weddings in Gaza. I do not belong to any faction.’
Wadee is seen leaving his asylum HMO in Corby earlier this week – an ankle tag visible beneath his trousers
Wadee posing with a pair of assault rifles in front of a photo of Rouzan al-Najjar, a volunteer medic killed by Israeli troops in June 2018. He claimed such photos were from celebratory occasions such as weddings
The Palestinian pictured amidst clashes with Israeli troops during the Great March of Return protests in 2018
In another clip, posted on Friday afternoon, Wadee alluded to his time in the Tyre-Burning Unit, but said this did not mark him out from other Palestinians.
‘All the people in Gaza participated in the Marches of Return; it does not mean that if you went to the Marches of Return, burned tires, or threw stones that you belonged to an organization or were affiliated with a faction,’ he said.
Wadee – who is thought to have taken 18 months to reach Britain – was traced by the Northamptonshire Telegraph to a housing estate in Corby after sharing videos of himself in the town on TikTok, often filmed on his own street.
He told the newspaper that he no longer supported Hamas, having done so under duress, and had Jewish friends.
‘No, no, no. I love England, I love Corby,’ he said, adding: ‘Everyone knows that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that would kill us if we didn’t speak against the Jews while living there.’
But the convicted criminal’s continued presence in Britain is putting pressure on Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who just this week gave Palestinians a new legal route into Britain by re-opening the UK Resettlement Scheme.
Home Office staff have been ordered to flag Palestinian asylum claims for ‘reputational risk’, as revealed by the Mail this week.
It is thought the order came from mandarins after a former bodyguard to the leader of Hamas was allowed to remain in the UK following an immigration appeal.
Corby MP Lee Barron has written to Ms Mahmood demanding Wadee’s deportation, saying he had put ‘a target on the back’ of the town’s other asylum seekers.
How The Mail on Sunday first revealed Abu Wadee’s identity to the world in March 2025 – before he was arrested days later
Wadee posing with an AR-15-style assault rifle in a photo he shared on social media in 2021
A spokesman for the Campaign Against Antisemitism said: ‘It’s remarkable that we’ve got to a point where even Abu Wadee is asking to be deported, but the Government can’t even manage that.
‘This has been a complete farce from start to finish. In May 2025, Mr Wadee pleaded guilty to illegally entering the UK on a small boat after we identified him, but it’s October and he is still in our country.
‘It’s no wonder that British Jews have little faith in the authorities to protect our community when they can’t even get this right.’
The Home Office declined to comment on specifics concerning Abu Wadee, citing a longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.
A government spokesman said: ‘Any foreign national who receives a prison sentence in the UK is referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity and will be barred from ever returning.
‘Over 11,000 foreign criminals including murderers and rapists have been returned or deported in the two years since the last election – a 41 per cent increase on the two years prior.’
