Declassified Files Reveal UK Knew of Israeli War Crimes for 24 Years

LONDON, United Kingdom — Declassified British foreign ministry documents show that UK diplomats were aware of allegations of human rights abuses by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories as early as 2002, according to an investigation by Declassified UK.

The documents, released in 2024 and examined in a report revisited this week, detail British concerns over Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank during March 2002, when Israel launched Operation Defensive Shield.

Israel said the operation was aimed at stopping attacks by Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, during the Second Intifada.

According to the documents, nearly 500 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank during that month, most of them civilians, while about 1,500 others were wounded.

A British Foreign Office official at the time described Israel's actions as part of a “pattern of human rights abuses”, according to the documents.

A senior British military officer also criticised the Israeli military, describing it as poorly organised and accusing it of using excessive force.

The files recorded incidents in which Red Cross workers were reportedly threatened at gunpoint and medical ambulances were prevented from reaching wounded people.

British concerns were conveyed directly to the Israeli government.

Michael Levy, then a special envoy for Prime Minister Tony Blair, warned Israel's defence minister at the time, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, that a military solution could not end the conflict.

Levy also warned that Israeli military operations could drive more young Palestinians towards suicide attacks, according to the documents.

UK arms restrictions

The files also show that Blair's government secretly suspended some arms exports to Israel in 2002 after finding that British equipment had been used in the occupied territories in breach of assurances previously given by Israel.

However, subsequent British governments did not maintain the same level of restrictions for an extended period, according to the investigation.

During Israel's 2008-2009 offensive in Gaza, the government of Gordon Brown revoked some export licences involving equipment used by the Israeli navy.

In 2014, David Cameron's government identified 12 arms licences for possible suspension following another Israeli offensive in Gaza that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, according to the report.

In 2024, the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended 30 of 350 existing arms export licences to Israel, citing concerns over the risk that British-made equipment could be used in serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The issue of British arms exports to Israel has since remained politically sensitive, particularly amid the war in Gaza and growing international scrutiny of Israel's military operations.

The report also cited World Health Organization data documenting thousands of attacks affecting healthcare services in the occupied Palestinian territories over the past two decades.

The newly highlighted documents offer a historical record of British officials' concerns over Israeli military conduct while successive governments continued to maintain diplomatic, military and commercial ties with Israel.

They also provide fresh scrutiny of Britain's long-standing approach to arms exports and its response to allegations of violations against Palestinians.

GAROWE ONLINE