A war crimes complaint was filed against 10 British nationals who served in the IDF during the Israel-Hamas War, the Public Interest Law Centre announced on Monday, when it also published a petition urging the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command’s War Crimes Team to investigate the allegations.
Attorney Michael Mansfield and six other lawyers reportedly filed a 240-page report to the Met, on behalf of PILC and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, allegedly implicating the UK citizens and dual-nationals in “involvement” in war crimes and crimes against humanity at three sites in Gaza.
The press release stated that the report sought to determine the involvement of the British citizens in alleged crimes committed by military units and ostensibly detailed the “apparent criminal liability of the suspects based on their unit affiliations and roles in the armed conflict” from 2023 until May.
PILC did not immediately respond to The Jerusalem Post’s requests for clarification if the accusations were solely based on their affiliation with units rather than evidence particular to the actions of the 10 soldiers. The Post also queried regarding the level of unit, such as platoon or brigade, which was reviewed when considering affiliation and liability.
A summary claimed that the suspects could not be named and full reports could not be released publicly so as to not jeopardize ongoing investigations or prejudice future prosecutions, but noted that some were officers and had been recruited through the Mahal foreign volunteer program.
Claims of the complaint
The British nationals were allegedly involved in the targeting of civilians and aid workers, including with sniper fire, and indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and hospitals. The soldiers were also accused of involvement in the forced transfer and displacement of civilians and coordinated attacks on protected religious or historic sites.
One witness said that at one of the sites “dead bodies were scattered next to one another,” and they had to search for the bodies of family members among them. Another said that soldiers stripped and beat their father, husband, and children with a cable and billiard stick.
A third witness said that they saw bodies in a mass grave, one being run over by a bulldozer. They also recalled a bulldozer demolishing part of a hospital. The fragments of the testimonies shared by the legal team didn’t make it clear if the individuals mentioned in the stories were the 10 British citizens.
The legal team appealed to the Met based on the 2001 International Criminal Court Act and 1957 Geneva Conventions Act, both of which apply to British citizens suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. The former law criminalizes committing genocide, a crime against humanity, or a war crime, and the latter gave effect to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and criminalizes breaching the treaty.
“Rather than continuing to grant military, political, and economic support to Israel, more must urgently be done to use the available legal mechanisms to hold those responsible for international crimes to account,” PILC said in the statement.
North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns said on social media that the report highlighted the importance of a March 14 letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy demanding the government to assess if UK nationals had been involved in potential war crimes in Gaza and to hold them to account.
Retired British Army officer Col. Richard Kemp dismissed the Monday report as “part of the pro-Hamas political warfare campaign, attempting to intimidate British Jews and smear Israel.”
Part of the pro-Hamas political warfare campaign, attempting to intimidate British Jews & smear Israel. Same legal warfare tactics as used extensively against British soldiers who fought in Northern Ireland, Iraq & Afghanistan.https://t.co/bGIg9MWexk pic.twitter.com/eIABi5WTh5
— Rɪᴄʜᴀʀᴅ Kᴇᴍᴘ ⋁ (@COLRICHARDKEMP) April 7, 2025
Kemp said on X/Twitter that the same legal tactics were used against British soldiers who fought in Northern Ireland, Iraq, and Afghanistan.