• 'Today we pay tribute to democracy, we pay tribute to justice, we pay tribute to common humanity and historically decisive moment,' Shahd Hammouri, lecturer in int'l law, says during 2-day event
• 'The UK is not only actively killing us, they refuse us,' says Palestinian Hala Sabbah

LONDON 

The Gaza Tribunal, a two-day event bringing experts and witnesses to examine Israel's war crimes in Gaza and "the UK's role in the genocide," started in London on Thursday.

The two-day event has brought together witnesses, scholars, journalists, healthcare workers, and political figures to examine and give testimonies on "Britain’s role in Israeli war crimes in Gaza."

Speaking at the opening of the event, Shahd Hammouri, a lecturer in international law and legal theory at the University of Kent, said that bringing witnesses to the event is a "moral duty" for them.

Touching on the historical, economic, military, and political role of genocide, she noted that the reality of what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is imminent.

Hammouri went on to say that the genocide that continues in Gaza for nearly two years is part of a "long project of settler colonization."

"Today we pay tribute to democracy, we pay tribute to justice, we pay tribute to common humanity, and historically decisive moment," added Hammouri.

Following the introduction section, the conference continued with the witnesses section in which Nick Maynard, a British surgeon who has recently returned from his third trip to Gaza, gave evidence of how Israel is deliberately targeting hospitals and healthcare workers in the besieged enclave.

"Hospitals are being targeted deliberately, I have seen that daily," noted Maynard, who works as a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospital.

Saying that he worked at Nasser Hospital in Gaza in his last trip to Gaza, Maynard recalled that it was bombed two weeks ago.

"Healthcare workers have been directly targeted," he said, adding that more than 450 of them have been abducted, along with many others who were killed or injured in the ongoing Israeli attacks.  

'UK is not only actively killing us, they refuse us'

For her part, Hala Sabbah, a Palestinian and the co-founder of Sameer Project -- a donations-based aid initiative for Gaza led by Palestinians -- said the number of aid trucks entering Gaza is still very low.

During the siege, many children died due to lack of medicine, she said, referring to a four-month period since March 2, when Israel totally blocked aid delivery.

"Aid is controlled by the military occupation deliberately," she said, adding that the famine has not stopped in the besieged enclave, as children still starve to death.

Criticizing the UK's Gaza policy, Sabbah stressed the very low number of Gazan children who were treated in the UK, while countries like Italy and Spain host hundreds of children in their hospitals.

"The UK is not only actively killing us, they refuse us," she said, accusing Britain of being "complicit in the genocide," which she said started long before Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, the UN-backed hunger monitoring system, Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, confirmed that there is famine in Gaza.  

'What you see in Gaza is extension of what's been happening in 2 decades'

Another witness, Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed shared his account of malnutrition during the time he was still in Gaza before being evacuated to Ireland in February 2025.

"What you see in Gaza is an extension of what Israel has been doing in Gaza in past 20 years since the blockade," he said, mentioning that the situation was already bad for Palestinians in Gaza before the beginning of the Israeli attacks in 2023.

He also talked about how Israel targeted journalists in the strip, and said that over 250 journalists have been killed deliberately by Israel.

Criticizing international media organizations for their Gaza coverage in favor of Israel, Abed said they failed Palestinians.

Touching on Israeli claims, he stressed that the journalists in Gaza have nothing to do with Hamas, adding they all work independently in a bid to give voice to Palestinians who are living under crippling conditions.

The Israeli army has launched a brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 63,700 Palestinians in Gaza. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.