TEN British nationals will today be reported to the police for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Britons who have served in the Israeli military are accused of committing “atrocities” during the country’s almost relentless assault on the Palestinian territory.
A 240-page report prepared by a team of legal experts, including England’s most prominent human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield KC, will be presented to the Metropolitan Police’s war crimes department.
It outlines allegations that British citizens who have served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have committed war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians and participating in the forcible transfer of populations.
Mansfield (below), who has represented clients including Princess Diana, Mohamed Al-Fayed, high-profile members of the IRA, Arthur Scargill and Stephen Lawrence’s family, said: “In the last 18 months we have witnessed international crimes unfold. Our leaders have done little if anything to prevent the suffering of millions of innocent Palestinians.
“We ask the war crimes team to take this report seriously, investigate, and if proven, arrest and try the individuals named.
“British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law.”
The report, based on six months of evidence-gathering, covers alleged offences committed in Gaza from October 2023 to May 2024.
Paul Heron, legal director of the Public Interest Law Centre, which commissioned the document, said: “Shockingly, British citizens have actively served in Israel’s armed forces, directly contributing to atrocities.
“As a law centre based in Britain, we have a duty to stand up. We’re filing our report to make clear these war crimes are not in our name.”
The full document, to be handed to the police by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, will not be made public while the war crimes team.
It comes after the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians said it would seek to bring private prosecutions against Britons who have served in the Israeli military.
Lawyers with the Global 195 project, working across the world, said they would provide the authorities in their countries with evidence of Israeli citizens committing war crimes in Gaza to encourage prosecutions.
