UK considering giving Gaza intelligence to war crimes court

The UK said it may provide intelligence gathered from surveillance flights over Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if asked to do so.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has been flying hundreds of surveillance flights, including Shadow R1 spy planes, over Gaza since December 2023 to gather information related to Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

However, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated it is also willing to share intelligence related to war crimes committed by Israel and Hamas, as the ICC is already carrying out an investigation into the matter.

The MoD also denied reports that it is providing Israel with targeting information, or that any RAF aircrafts have been used to fly weapons into Israel, amidst its ongoing war on Gaza.

“In line with our international obligations, we would consider any formal request from the International Criminal Court to provide information relating to investigations into war crimes” the statement from the MoD read.

“The UK is not a participant in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Our mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals, with the RAF routinely conducting unarmed flights since December 2023 for this sole purpose,” the statement continued.

However, an investigation by Al-Jazeera recently revealed that the US and UK could be playing a part in Israel’s war on Gaza, providing intelligence and airlifts to Israel.

The MoD statement comes after ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan in May that he would seek arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and  crimes against humanity.

Khan also sought arrest warrants for Hamas leaders Mohammed Deif, Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar, who have all since been killed by Israel. 

Both Netanyahu and Gallant are also accused of “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population” from 8 October last year, when they cut off all water, food, aid, fuel and electricity to the Strip.

Over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, with more than 100,000 injured and the Gaza Strip has been utterly devastated as a result of Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on residential areas, schools, hospitals, and other civilian facilities.