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UK willing to hand over Gaza intelligence to war crimes court

RAF A generic image of a RAF surveillance drone flying in the sky with grey clouds behind it.RAF
A file photo of a RAF surveillance drone

The UK has said it would consider providing intelligence gathered from surveillance flights over Gaza to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if requested.

The ICC is already carrying out an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by both Hamas and Israel.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) has flown hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza since last December, reportedly using Shadow R1 spy planes based in nearby Cyprus.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said these flights were to gather intelligence related to the hostages seized by Hamas on 7 October last year.

But it has also stated it is willing to share intelligence relating to war crimes with the ICC.

The MoD has denied reports it is providing wider targeting information to Israel or that RAF aircraft have been used to fly weapons into Israel during its war in Gaza.

The MoD said in a statement: "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 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."

As yet there has been no formal request from the ICC.

In May, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahiya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity from the day of Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October onwards.

Deif, Haniyeh and Sinwar have all been killed in recent weeks and any request for the arrest warrants of Netanyahu and Gallant must yet be approved by ICC judges.

Following the UK general election the new Labour government lifted opposition to the ICC having the right to seek an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, a change in policy Mr Khan told the BBC he welcomed.

In recent months the British government has also restricted UK arms sales to Israel and refunded the UN agency helping Palestinians.