Complaint Filed Declaring UK Ministers’ Complicity in “Israeli” War Crimes

By Staff, Agencies

A UK-based advocacy group has filed a criminal complaint against senior UK politicians, including ministers, alleging their complicity in war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians [ICJP] said on Tuesday it handed over hard drives and evidence dossiers to the Metropolitan Police's War Crimes Unit last week.

“This is just the first tranche of our evidence and the first list of suspects… we will add further offences and further categories of suspects including commentators who continue to support war crimes," Tayab Ali, director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians and head of international law at Bindmans LLP, told a press conference.

“Each account not only serves as evidence but also as a solemn reminder of the human cost of this conflict. We will accept nothing less than a thorough and impartial investigation into these allegations."

The complaint, shared after a public request from the police for evidence of war crimes in the “Israeli” entity and Gaza, also implicates “Israeli” politicians and private British citizens, including some who travelled abroad to fight for the “Israeli” army.

The Met has come under criticism from Conservative voices, including former prime minister Boris Johnson, who have suggested their call for evidence is a politicization of the force.

Ali said on Tuesday that Johnson's comments themselves amounted to unwelcome "political interference" in the work of the police.

The police have defended their efforts saying its war crimes team is obliged, under the Rome Statute, to support any investigations opened by the International Criminal Court that could involve British subjects.

The 78-page ICJP complaint features photographic evidence as well as harrowing eyewitness accounts, including from British citizens who were either present in Gaza after 7 October or have family members there who have provided them with information and evidence.

The ICJP said it has kept the names of the politicians and individuals confidential for legal reasons and as the police investigations proceed.

One witness gave an account of his former primary school teacher who was killed alongside 20 relatives in their family home in northern Gaza, leaving no survivors.

Another reported that his friend's brother, who is a doctor at Shifa Hospital, only learned that his wife and three children had died when he found their bodies in the hospital's corridors.

A third told of his 91-year-old grandmother, suffering from dementia and largely bed-ridden, who was allegedly shot and killed by “Israeli” soldiers when they occupied the home where she was sheltering in Jabalia refugee camp.

The dossier also includes evidence supporting allegations that the “Israeli” army used white phosphorous against civilians in Gaza, contrary to international law.

In the aftermath of the heroic Palestinian Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, at least 24,100 Palestinians have been killed, with at least 7,000 missing and more than 60,000 injured.

The complaint argues that the named British ministers are responsible for aiding and abetting war crimes through their continued military support of the “Israeli” entity and their moral encouragement.

Given evidence that UK weapons and intelligence are used in operations that "fail to respect the principles of distinction and proportionality and target civilians", the complaint says the police should further investigate the culpability of listed UK lawmakers.

The majority of those named in the complaint live in the “Israeli” entity, but ICJP says many are officials who travel frequently and has requested that the police monitor their entry into the UK.

The filing of the complaint in the UK alleging complicity by British officials in “Israeli” war crimes comes after the International Court of Justice last week began hearing a complaint accusing the entity of Gaza brought by South Africa in The Hague.

Speaking at Tuesday's press conference, Haydee Dijkstal, head of international law at 33 Beford Row Chambers, who have been working on ICJP’s submission of evidence to Scotland Yard, said its complaint did not assert the crime of genocide but covered a wide range of alleged war crimes.

Dijkstal said: "The complaint that was submitted, there are different legal principles from what’s being addressed at the ICJ. A ruling from the ICJ wouldn’t impact it but we’d certainly analyze it."

The UK government has been a staunch supporter of the “Israeli” entity throughout the conflict and has resisted pressure to call for a ceasefire in the war.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in October he was "proud to stand with you in ‘Israel’s’ darkest hour as your friend, we will stand with you in solidarity, we will stand with your people, and we want you to win".

Similarly, then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he wanted to make it “clear to our ‘Israeli’ friends that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them in their self-defense" and has stated that "calls for a ceasefire in the abstract aren’t going to help the situation”.