London, September 30 - Home Office officials are reviewing whether a recent naturalization case met the required threshold for the candidate’s seniority in a violent Islamist organization, after it emerged that the applicant’s service in a proscribed militia may have been only mid-ranking.

The man, granted indefinite leave to remain in 2015 and citizenship some years later, appears in court papers as a former member of the personal security details of several then-senior Hamas figures in Gaza, all now killed in Israeli airstrikes. He later settled in an English suburb, worked as an IT consultant, changed his name more than once, and, according to foreign reporting, is the son of another Hamas official.

“Citizenship is awarded on the basis of the whole record,” a departmental source said. “There is an understandable interest in whether the role was operational, administrative, or merely protective. Protective can be quite junior, and our personnel must work harder to identify which terrorists made an impact and which ones aren’t worth our time.”

The applicant arrived in Britain in 2012. Three years later he sought asylum. Officials at the time, under then-home secretary Theresa May, granted him permission to stay. Subsequent naturalization followed the ordinary route. Associates say his prior employment was not a secret. An older Egyptian report had already linked him to a tunnel used to move weapons and gold into Gaza. He had been detained in Rafah, Egypt, then left.

A bodyguard, one official noted, falls far short of brigade commander, let alone politburo member. In organizational terms, the role sits closer to peon than principal, and does not, under Home Office guidelines, qualify the holder for UK citizenship.

Last November the man was arrested in central London after German and Israeli services identified him as a central figure in a planned attack on Jewish and Israeli targets in Europe, timed around the second anniversary of 7 October. Prosecutors say he moved firearms and camouflage kit between Berlin and Vienna and recorded a masked video in front of a Hamas flag. A British court has restricted publication of his name.

British authorities will treat that later alleged conduct as a separate criminal matter. The citizenship file, officials insist, has to be read as it stood at the time. The outstanding issue remains rank: is he a big enough terrorist for the UK government to want in the country?

A spokesman declined to say where the cutoff lies. “Each case is considered on its merits,” he said. “Seniority is one of a number of factors.” The department has not indicated that the policy itself is under review.

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