The Palestinian small-boat migrant who illegally arrived in the UK after calling for the deaths of all Jews says he wants to remain in his taxpayer-funded asylum home.
Abu Wadee, 34, served nine months in prison after he was exposed by the Mail on Sunday as arriving in the UK in a small boat in March 2025. Months before, he posted a video calling for Allah to ‘kill (Jews) one by one… don’t leave a single one’.
Wadee was once a member of the ‘tyre-burning unit’, a Hamas-affiliated outfit that threw fire bombs, rocks and other projectiles at Israeli border forces.
He was released from prison in December, and placed in a Serco-run house of multiple occupancy (HMO) with three other migrants on a housing estate in Corby, Northamptonshire – where he was traced this week.
The 34-year-old is thought to have been driven away from the house in a taxi earlier today amidst an outcry over his continued presence in the country.
Police officers and a man who identified himself as a housing officer arrived at the house this morning, before a man understood to be Wadee emerged from a side door shortly after 12pm and climbed into a waiting taxi.
He was wearing a hooded jacket, sunglasses and a baseball gap that obscured his face and carrying a red umbrella – his ankle tag clearly visible beneath his three-quarter length trousers.
The man ducked below the window to avoid watching members of the press as the taxi – which had called at the house yesterday asking for Wadee by his full name, Mosab Abdulkarim al-Gassas – pulled away.
Wadee ducked below the window to avoid watching members of the press. The police left shortly afterwards.
Palestinian militant Abu Wadee claimed he no longer supports Hamas after he was found living in a taxpayer-funded asylum home in Corby
Wadee arrived in the UK on a small boat in March last year, but was identified by the Mail on Sunday as a former member of a group that terrorised Israel
He admitted he was once part of the ‘tyre-burning unit’, which hurled fire-bombs and rocks at Israeli forces manning the borders of Gaza (pictured at the border in 2018)
Locals today expressed their shock at living close to Wadee. One said: ‘It’s shocking to hear that somebody who allegedly supported Hamas was living here.
‘Russia and Hamas are very close. I’m just glad he has gone.’
Wadee was found in Corby after posting videos of himself on TikTok riding around its town centre on a bicycle, and encouraging teenagers to shout ‘Free Palestine’ on camera. They are not thought to have known of his real identity.
He was then tracked down by the Northamptonshire Telegraph, telling the paper’s Kate Cronin that he no longer supported Hamas and had Jewish friends.
He claimed his support for Hamas had been given under duress, adding that it was ‘eight years ago’.
Asked if he still supported the group, he told a reporter: ‘No, no, no. I love England, I love Corby.
‘Everyone knows that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that would kill us if we didn’t speak against the Jews while living there.’
Wadee’s TikTok account, which had about 20,000 followers, had been deleted as of Wednesday afternoon.
His presence in Corby as a convicted criminal and illegal entrant to the UK have led to calls for his immediate deportation. The Daily Mail understands Home Office officials are seeking to remove him from the country.
But in newly unearthed videos reviewed by the Daily Mail, Wadee claims that his human rights are being infringed by British authorities, saying no lawyer will help him to stay in the UK.
In one clip, showing off what appeared to be an ankle tag, he said: ‘I have not committed any crime or done anything wrong in Britain. They are punishing me.
‘I didn’t come to cause trouble, and I haven’t caused any trouble. Unfortunately, I can’t find anyone to defend my rights.
‘I can’t find lawyers or Palestinian or Arab embassies willing to stand with me here.’
The video did not include mention of his 2024 video in which he called for the deaths of Jews.
However, he admitted that he had been pictured posing with Kalashnikov assault rifles in Gaza.
‘My only issue is that I entered illegally, like many refugees around the world do when seeking asylum,’ he said.
Abu Wadee posing with two AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles in front of a Palestine flag and a poster depicting Rouzan al-Najjar, a medic killed in Gaza in 2018
He has since shared clips of what appears to be an ankle tag on his social media, claiming in the videos that his human rights are being infringed
The contents of the video, which was filmed in Arabic, were reviewed and confirmed for the Daily Mail by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
A spokesperson said today: ‘Abu Wadei can complain all he wants, but he’s the one who was allegedly involved in a Hamas-linked operation in Gaza and reportedly called for the slaughter of all Jews.
‘He’s also been convicted of immigration offences, and it’s shameful that he remains in Britain, making a total mockery of our laws.
‘The authorities have been next to useless in this case.
‘It was us in the Jewish community who actually identified Mr Wadei in the first place, not the authorities, and it was only when we threatened to privately prosecute him that he was charged with illegally entering the UK.
‘It’s past time for action. The authorities should be removing him from this country.’
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it was a ‘joke’ that Wadee continued to enjoy a taxpayer-funded home, and called for him to be sent back to Hamas-controlled territory.
And Labour MP for Corby Lee Barron said he was contacting Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to seek Wadee’s ‘immediate deportation’.
A Government spokeswoman told the Mail last night: ‘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.’
The Home Office was contacted for further comment.
