‘They will be held accountable’: UK Gaza war crimes case aims to deter Israeli army enlistment
'Everybody joining an army should be asking the question, is this legitimate? Is what is being done by this army on behalf of this state lawful?' says Renowned human rights barrister Mansfield
Israel's attacks on Gaza
- 'It will have a tsunami effect across the world because it's not just British dual nationals that are seeking to operate under the IDF (Israeli army), but it's also other dual nationals,' lawmaker Ayoub Khan tells Anadolu
LONDON
A group of lawyers in London is making a legal push to hold several British nationals who served with the Israeli army accountable for alleged atrocities in Gaza, and they hope the effects will be felt beyond the country's borders.
A growing number of soldiers and officials involved in Israel’s brutal Gaza offensive are already facing worldwide calls for justice, with groups like the Hind Rajab foundation pursuing them with legal measures in many countries.
Now, with a 240-page dossier against 10 British nationals, including dual citizens, human rights barrister Michael Mansfield KC and researchers based in The Hague also aim to deter future recruits from joining the Israeli military.
“Everybody joining an army should be asking the question, is this legitimate? Is what is being done by this army on behalf of this state lawful? And there are soldiers in Israel who are refusing to serve for that very reason,” he said in an interview with Anadolu.
“If you’re a British national committing an international war crime, potentially, then you’re not above the law,” stressed Mansfield, who has long represented victims of war and government negligence.
Alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity
The complaint was lodged Monday with London’s Metropolitan Police on behalf of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and British-based Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) against those who served with the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. It calls for an urgent probe into alleged involvement in grave international crimes, including the targeting of civilians, aid workers, and protected sites.
Franck Magennis, a barrister involved in compiling the report, said the action comes as the Israeli military stands accused of “extreme violence” in Gaza. “This project is about holding British people, 10 British people that we have identified, accountable because they stand accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he told Anadolu.
The submission is based on open-source material, legal research, and witness testimony gathered in coordination with investigators at The Hague. According to its authors, it includes detailed evidence of atrocities such as extermination, displacement, and murder committed during Israel’s military campaign in the besieged enclave.
“There is provision within British domestic law for those people to be held accountable,” Magennis said. “They should be prosecuted, and we are calling on the British state to use its existing mechanisms to bring about those prosecutions.”
The action also sends a strong deterrent message to other British nationals considering joining the Israeli military to “participate in these ongoing crimes.”
“There is a real risk that they will be prosecuted, and they will face the full force of the law,” he said.
The legal move comes amid growing international scrutiny over foreign nationals participating in Israel’s Gaza offensive. Magennis drew a comparison with South Africa’s legal efforts to hold dual Israeli-South African soldiers accountable.
“Clearly, the British government is much less likely to hold Israeli soldiers to that standard, but it’s our hope that by pointing out the evidence in respect of Britain’s own nationals, that they will have no choice but to act and to hold these British citizens, accountable for their alleged crimes,” he said.
‘Tsunami effect’
Ayoub Khan, a member of the UK Parliament’s Independent Alliance, called the submission a crucial first step — one he believes should have been taken by the state itself.
“This is going to have reverberations across the whole world,” he said, adding that the case filed could lead to significant consequences for the accused, whose names were not released publicly for legal reasons.
“If convicted, they can be looking at very lengthy sentences, life, if you’ve been engaged in some of the war crimes. That’s bound to have an impact, certainly in terms of deterrence.”
He added: “It will have a tsunami effect across the world because it’s not just British dual nationals that are seeking to operate under the IDF (Israeli military), but it’s also other dual nationals from other countries, European countries, America.”
More than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in a brutal Israeli onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.
Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Separately, Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its actions in Gaza.
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