Met police review Israeli ‘war crimes’ claims by pro-Palestinians

The allegations against the unnamed British ministers are being reviewed by Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit

The Metropolitan police’s war crimes unit met a pro-Palestinian campaign group last week to hear claims of war crimes committed against Gaza by Israel.

On Tuesday the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said it had given hard drives and dossiers of evidence to the Scotland Yard unit.

Scotland Yard said it was now assessing the evidence to determine whether a formal investigation into the accusations should be carried out.

The pro-Palestine campaign group said they have given evidence related to British politicians of alleged war crimes. They previously also issued intent to prosecute British politicians for aiding and abetting war crimes.

Four senior British politicians have been accused of complicity in alleged Israeli war crimes committed during the country’s on going attack of Gaza (AFP via Getty Images)

Apparent evidence was provided by the group in relation to senior politicians, including government ministers, as well as Israeli ministers and private British individuals.

An Israeli military spokesperson told The Independent: “The IDF is fully committed to respecting all applicable international legal obligations, including the Law of Armed Conflict.”

The ICJP previously issued Sir Keir Starmer, Emily Thornberry and David Lammy with a public notice of intention to prosecute any UK officials allegedly complict with war crimes.

The group accused the Labour politicians of speaking out in defence of Israel’s withholding of food, water and electricity to Gaza. Mr Starmer, Ms Thornberry and Mr Lammy were approached for comment.

Scotland Yard confirmed that its war crimes team had received more than 40 referrals in recent weeks, including from people returning from the region.

A Met spokesperson told The Independent: “The information within the referral will now be assessed by specialist officers as part of a scoping exercise to determine whether any further action or formal investigation will be carried out.

“At this time, there is no UK-based investigation into this matter, or any other matters relating to this particular conflict.

“We remain focussed on supporting victims and witnesses who report core international crimes, as well as supporting the UK families of those directly affected by the terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October last year.”