The move comes as the UK’s International Centre of Justice for Palestinians prepares a war crimes case against Israel.
New Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism department has expanded its war crimes investigation to Palestinian territories, according to the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), a UK-based independent body of lawyers, politicians and academics.
In a series of posts via X on Saturday, the ICJP uploaded a communique in English, Arabic and Hebrew saying that the British police force, in cooperation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) was “investigating alleged war crimes in Israel and Palestine from June 2014 onwards”.
According to Middle East Eye, the ICJP is preparing a war crimes case against Israel and is spearheading an initiative to assist members of the public in relaying any evidence they may have to the police.
The ICJP’s latest update follows reports from the Independent on November 28 that the Metropolitan Police, whose headquarters are located in New Scotland Yard, launched an investigation into war crimes committed in Gaza since October 7.
The investigation was spearheaded by New Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit, in tandem with the ICC.
“The unit has received over 20 referrals, including those made by individuals recently returned from Gaza since the conflict began,” according to the Independent’s report.
As part of the initial investigation, Tayab Ali, a London-based solicitor and director at the ICJP, and Professor Ghassan Abu Sittah, a British-Palestinian reconstructive plastic surgeon, met with New Scotland Yard to “provide them with his eyewitness evidence in relation to alleged war crimes in Gaza”, Tayab said on X.
During a prior ICJP press conference on November 27, Professor Abu-Sittah, recounted his time in Gaza with Doctors Without Borders from October 9 to November 19.
“We started seeing phosphorus burns,” he said about the patients he treated.
While Israel has repeatedly denied claims of the illegal use of white phosphorus in Gaza, a Human Rights Watch report found that Israel did use white phosphorus in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, “putting civilians at risk of serious and long-term injuries”.