Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Death toll from latest Israeli strikes on Gaza rises to 30
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Five killed in the Israeli bombing of a civilian vehicle on Al-Qassam Street in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip
Hamas confirms that it has no connection to the shooting incident in Rafah and affirms its commitment to the ceasefire agreement
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two civilians were killed and four others, including a child and an infant, were injured in an Israeli bombing of a house belonging to the Al-Banna family in the al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli airstrike targets the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, west of Gaza City
Al-Qassam: We will postpone the handover of the body of the Israeli captive we found, which was scheduled for today, due to the occupation's violations
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in Gaza: Israeli occupation aircraft launch airstrikes on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip
Netanyahu's office: At the end of the security consultations, the prime minister instructed the military to launch massive military strikes on the Gaza Strip immediately
President Aoun: We urge the activation of the monitoring committee, the cessation of hostilities, ongoing Israeli violations, attacks
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun to US Envoy Morgan Ortagus: Southerners must be enabled to return to their homes and rebuild

Lawyers seeking arms export ban report Israeli war crimes to UK court

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Guardian
  • 19 Aug 2024 17:08
5 Min Read

Lawyers present evidence to the High Court in London, detailing horrific conditions and abuses faced by Palestinians, to challenge the UK's arms export licenses to "Israel".

Listen
  • x
  • Lawyers seeking arms export ban report Israeli war crimes to UK court
    A Palestinian weeps over a body at the funeral for more than 15 people, including several children and women, killed in an Israeli strike, at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2024 (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Lawyers have submitted harrowing claims to the High Court in London, stressing that Palestinians are being tortured, denied medical treatment in hospitals, and trapped under relentless bombardment, according to a report by The Guardian. The submission is part of a legal bid to stop the UK government from issuing arms export licenses to British companies supplying weapons to "Israel".

The legal submission includes 14 witness statements spanning over 100 pages, featuring testimonies from Palestinian and Western medical doctors working in Gaza’s hospitals, along with accounts from ambulance drivers, civil defense personnel, and aid workers.

The graphic evidence aims to bolster a request for a court order arguing that the UK government’s refusal to ban arms sales is irrational, as it claims there isn’t a clear risk of these weapons being used in breaches of international humanitarian law. According to The Guardian, this is the statutory test the government must apply when deciding whether to grant arms export licenses. The Labour government is currently reviewing this policy.

The signed testimonies have been provided by witnesses, all of whom are identified to the court, though only two are being named by The Guardian to protect families in Gaza from potential retribution. The judicial review is scheduled to take place between October 8 and 10.

The case has been initiated by an alliance of NGOs, including al-Haq, Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch. It marks the first attempt to present such detailed testimony of the Israeli war crimes before a British judge since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

The previous Conservative administration defended its decision to continue granting arms export licenses, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that UK weapons were being used in war crimes.

Testimonies against Israeli aggression

Related News

Gaza MoH: Israeli violations of ceasefire leave more martyred

Egyptian convoy enters Gaza to help recover captive remains

One of the named witnesses, Dr. Ben Thomson, a Canadian kidney specialist, said he treated a patient who had been forced to stand for 48 hours, requiring a skin graft on his heel. He said he also treated a 60-year-old man who had been stripped naked by Israeli forces, whose wrists had been bound tightly for three days, and who had been dragged on the floor, causing his wrist to be worn down to the bone.

He said: “Every part of the healthcare system has been targeted and destroyed and is now completely incapable of providing care. So many people are dying from issues that are completely treatable," adding that he had personally treated three children whom he could have saved if he had any access to the appropriate medicines.

Read next: IOF soldiers recount how Palestinians were tortured at Sde Teiman

He testified that during his visit to the tent city in Rafah in March, water was rationed to just three liters per day, with one toilet available for every 800 people. He described being forced to reset broken bones without pain medication and recounted a harrowing incident where, due to severe overcrowding in a hospital, a man in his care died “on the floor in a pool of his own blood and brain matter.”

'No militants in al-Aqsa hospital'

In the second named witness statement, Dr. Khaled Dawas, a consultant surgeon at University College Hospital London, described the conditions in Gaza’s hospitals during both his visits as resembling "what he imagined medieval medicine must have been like." He noted that many of his patients were victims of sniper fire, highlighting the dire circumstances under which medical professionals were forced to operate.

He said: “I understand that Israel justifies its attacks on hospitals by reference to its claim that the hospitals are overrun by militants but in my four weeks in al-Aqsa hospital I personally did not see a single one.”

Dr. Dawas reported encountering numerous patients who showed signs of severe abuse from detention camps, including one individual who had been dragged across the ground while tethered by an external fixator supporting a broken limb.

He added that on his second visit, he treated a disabled man who “in detention had been handcuffed, blindfolded and handcuffed to his wheelchair with his wrists tied to the right of his torso for 30 days”.

'Israel bombs safe houses'

Another unnamed British consultant recounted an attack on a safe house where he and other doctors were bombed on January 18. He noted that this incident prompted NGOs to halt sending humanitarian workers to the region.

Despite British diplomats in Cairo assuring that the matter would be addressed at the highest level in the UK, the consultant claims that no one from the UK government followed up with the medical team.

  • Gaza Strip
  • Israel
  • Israeli occupation
  • United Kingdom
  • Gaza
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

'Israel’s Digital Iron Dome: Weaponizing the web against Palestine

  • Technology
  • 24 Oct 2025
Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

Arab League chief exposes secret US deal shielding 'Israel’s' nukes

  • Politics
  • 27 Oct 2025
Abu Hamza, the spokesperson for the Al-Quds Brigades, during a speech televised on October 22, 2025 (Al-Quds Brigades Military Media)

Al-Quds Brigades' Abu Hamza mourns leaders, vows continued resistance

  • Politics
  • 22 Oct 2025
US missionary kidnapped in Niger capital, suspected taken toward Mali

US missionary kidnapped in Niger capital, suspected taken toward Mali

  • Africa
  • 23 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, and Egyptian workers search for the bodies of hostages in a tunnel discovered during searches in Hamad City, Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025 (AP)
Politics

'Israel' obstructing Gaza body recovery, creating false claims: Hamas

Lebanese Prime Minister Nawwaf Salam talks to US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus at the Grand Serail in Beirut, Lebanon, October 28, 2025 (NNA)
Politics

Salam conveys to Ortagus goals behind any possible negotiations

Writers boycott NYT, demand justice as Gaza media ban faces court
Politics

300+ writers boycott NYT Opinion, cite persistent anti-Palestine bias

Settlers attack West Bank olive harvesters, Injure 3 Palestinians
Politics

Settlers attack West Bank olive harvesters, injure 3 Palestinians

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS