Jeremy Corbyn’s Gaza Tribunal calls for UK ministers to be investigated by International Criminal Court
The report says the government should be investigated for 'complicity and participation in genocide'
The former Labour Party leader, now Your Party MP Jeremy Corbyn has called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate UK government ministers over ‘complicity and participation in genocide’.
This is a central recommendation in the report from the Gaza Tribunal. The Gaza Tribunal was held by Corbyn in September 2025 to ‘uncover the full scale of British complicity in genocide’. he Tribunal heard from witnesses, journalists and survivors of Israel’s assault on Gaza, as well as a range of international law experts, lawyers and whistle-blowers.
The Gaza Tribunal Report concludes that the British government has failed in its fundamental obligation to prevent genocide, has been complicit in atrocity crimes, and in some instances has even been an active participant in these crimes. The report goes on to recommend a full ICC investigation into Britain’s complicity and participation in genocide.
The report also calls on the government to cooperate with a full, official, independent public inquiry into any cooperation between the UK and Israel since October 2023. This inquiry must have the power to question Ministers and officials involved in decision-making processes, the report argues.
Writing in a foreword to the report, Corbyn said: “Today, schoolchildren are taught about history’s worst crimes against humanity. They are asked to reflect on how these crimes possibly could have occurred. And they learn the names of political figures that endorsed or enabled such atrocities. In the near future, our history books will shame those in our government who could have stopped the genocide in Gaza but facilitated it instead.”
Speaking on the report, Corbyn added that he hopes “the Gaza Tribunal serves as a landmark contribution to the campaign for justice, and as a historical repository of evidence for generations to come” and said the report will “help cement the government’s legacy as a participant in one of the greatest crimes of our time.”
Speaking ahead of the Tribunal, co-author of the report, Dr. Shahd Hammori – lecturer in international law and legal theory at the University of Kent – said: “We hereby accuse top-UK officials of complicity in the genocide in Gaza. They lied, manipulated the law, denied the reality on the ground, and prosecuted those who spoke truth to power. Underlying their complicity is misconduct in public office, an active pursuit of deception aimed at protecting the interests of foreign governments and big businesses, not the British public.
“Today we pursue another step in the path of accountability. Meanwhile, our message to the British public is to remain alert, and to refuse state and corporate politics that relegate the lives of others and the environment as expendable waste. This message is even more urgent in light of the US/Israeli illegal aggression on Iran. We hope that this report serves as a warning of the dangers of participating in the US/Israeli illegal aggression against the state of Iran which poses a threat to international peace and security.”
According to the report, the UK government has played a ‘vital role in Israeli military operations in Gaza’. This, the reports authors argue, includes through the sale, supply of transfer of weapons to Israel which ‘have been used to extinguish human life and destroy vital infrastructure in Gaza, the West Bank and beyond’; the performance of Royal Air Force (RAF) surveillance flights over Gaza; and the provision of political and diplomatic support, which has ’empowered Israel to commit atrocities with impunity’.
Alongside calling for the ICC to investigate the UK government, the reports recommendations to the UK government include: Ending all military co-operation with Israel (including all arms exports, surveillance flights and intelligence exchange); imposing widespread economic sanctions on Israel; ending the UK’s trade agreement with Israel; and de-proscribing Palestine Action.
The full report can be read here.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Findings of the Gaza Tribunal
Jeremy Corbyn-led report recommends UK ministers are investigated by the ICC in light of the government’s “complicity” and “participation in genocide”.
Jeremy Corbyn held The Gaza Tribunal in September to “uncover the full scale of British complicity in genocide.” Over two days, the Tribunal heard from 29 witnesses, journalists, medics, academics and survivors of the Gaza genocide, as well as a range of international law experts, lawyers and whistleblowers.
The report concludes that the British government has failed in its fundamental obligation to prevent genocide, has been complicit in atrocity crimes, and in some instances has even been an active participant in these crimes. The Report recommends a full investigation by the International Criminal Court into Britain’s complicity and participation in genocide.
The report’s authors vow to work with the ICC to “draw their attention to evidence presented in this report, including violations of international law and evidence of criminal complicity implicating government ministers and officials.” That includes “those who have authorized the continuation of economic ties with Israel, as well as the commission of arms trades, arm transfers and intelligence exchange.”
The report also calls on the government to cooperate with a full, official, independent public inquiry into any cooperation between the UK and Israel since October 2023. This inquiry must have the power to question ministers and officials involved in decision-making processes.
Jeremy Corbyn says he hopes “the Gaza Tribunal serves as a landmark contribution to the campaign for justice, and as a historical repository of evidence for generations to come.” He says the report will “help cement the government’s legacy as a participant in one of the greatest crimes of our time.”
In his foreword, Corbyn writes: “Today, schoolchildren are taught about history’s worst crimes against humanity. They are asked to reflect on how these crimes possibly could have occurred. And they learn the names of political figures that endorsed or enabled such atrocities. In the near future, our history books will shame those in our government who could have stopped the genocide in Gaza but facilitated it instead.”
Jeremy Corbyn alongside Shahd Hammouri and Neve Gordon will present the full findings of the Gaza Tribunal today at 1.30pm Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL.
Co-author of the report, Dr. Shahd Hammori said: “We hereby accuse top-UK officials of complicity in the genocide in Gaza. They lied, manipulated the law, denied the reality on the ground, and prosecuted those who spoke truth to power. Underlying their complicity is misconduct in public office, an active pursuit of deception aimed at protecting the interests of foreign governments and big businesses, not the British public. Today we pursue another step in the path of accountability. Meanwhile, our message to the British public is to remain alert, and to refuse state and corporate politics that relegate the lives of others and the environment as expendable waste. This message is even more urgent in light of the US-Israeli illegal aggression on Iran. We hope that this report serves as a warning of the dangers of participating in the US-Israeli illegal aggression against the state of Iran which poses a threat to international peace and security.”
Co-author of the report, Professor Neve Gordon said: “The government’s complicity in the genocide in Gaza has created a very dangerous precedent for our current moment. Indeed, we are already witnessing the fallout with Keir Stammer’s immoral response to the illegal war of aggression in Iran. To ensure that ‘Never Again’ does not become entirely meaningless we must hold ministers and officials accountable for the government’s complicity in the destruction of Gaza. Accountability is the most effective guard against the repetition of such crimes in the future.”
Jeremy Corbyn had previously presented the Gaza (Independent Public Inquiry) Bill to Parliament earlier this year, but it was blocked by the government. The government’s official response states that “there is no need for an inquiry” and “such an inquiry would be unnecessary as there is no confusion about UK military operations in Gaza.” In Corbyn’s introduction to the Tribunal, he said that “we do not need permission to uncover the truth.”
The evidence
When the Report was written, the official death toll in Gaza had exceeded 71,000, of whom at least 20,000 are children. These conservative figures do not include an untold number of people lost under the rubble. According to a study published in February 2026 by the Lancet Global Health medical journal, the death toll exceeded 75,000 more than a year ago—and the real figure could be closer to 186,000. At least 170,000 more have been injured. Gaza is now the home of the largest cohort of child amputees in the world.
More than 80 percent of the buildings in Gaza have been either damaged or destroyed, including more than 90 percent of housing, 97 percent of schools, thirty-three of thirty-six hospitals, and all the universities. More than 95 percent of Gaza’s agricultural land has been rendered unusable. At least 1.9 million people across the Gaza Strip have been displaced and over a million Palestinians are living in squalid tents without electricity, running water or a sewage system.
The Gaza Tribunal provided a platform for survivors, witnesses and experts to uncover the devastating scope of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the true scale of British involvement. The Tribunal serves as a historical repository of evidence of British complicity in one of the greatest crimes of our time, with the aim of mobilising global support in the pursuit of justice, freedom and peace for the people of Palestine.
Cumulatively, the testimony gathered established beyond doubt that British governments – both Conservative and Labour – systematically failed to meet a range of legal obligations, most notably the obligation to prevent genocide. The evidence presented reveals that the British government has been complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by Israel and even been an active participant in these crimes. The violation of international law could implicate individual ministers and officials, including those who have authorized the continuation of economic ties with Israel, as well as the commission of arms trades, arm transfers and intelligence exchange.
The Tribunal heard from a range of witnesses who described in devastating detail the human and social reality of displacement, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. This includes:
- The deliberate and near total destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, undertaken with the aim of decimating the conditions needed for saving and sustaining the lives of the sick and the wounded and destroying a key institution necessary for governing the population. This includes the targeting of Palestinian health workers and the destruction of healthcare infrastructure, which have had catastrophic knock-on impact on the health of Gaza’s population.
- The destruction of the education system, including targeted attacks on infrastructure, students and teachers. These attacks have harmed the educational prospects of young Palestinians who are unable to continue their education. Hundreds of teachers and professors have been killed, effectively wiping out whole fields of study for the foreseeable future. At a time when the Palestinian population in Gaza needs them most, it will take years to rebuild university programmes in social work, physiotherapy and medicine, as well as in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, literature, law and history.
- The targeting of journalistshas transformed Gaza into journalism’s graveyard. Israel created target banks and assassination lists of Palestinian journalists in Gaza and killed over 250 journalists and subjected others to threats, professional marginalization and institutional abandonment. They were targeted due to their professional role of documenting the violence and providing evidence of atrocity crimes. The cumulative effect is not only the appalling loss of life, but the suppression of evidence and the erosion of press freedom.
- The Israeli blockade of Gaza, the criminalisation of UNWRA and scores of other humanitarian organisations, and the expropriation of vast swathes of land, the destruction of agricultural fields, greenhouses, irrigation infrastructure and fishing vessels hasproduced famine.Israel has deprived the population of material indispensable for its survival, using the lack of drinkable water, severe restriction of aid volume, deliberate limitation of nutritional diversity, and prolonged suspension of food entry as weapons of war. The Israeli and US-led Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) was a militarized “humanitarian camouflage” that used the cover and bait of a food distribution system to continue the mass killing of Palestinians.
How Britain failed its legal obligations
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, a High Contracting Party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, a party to the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the ICC, and a state with longstanding diplomatic, military and economic ties to Israel, the UK’s legal obligations require:
- The immediate suspension of arms transfers and related military exports where there is a serious risk of use in genocide, crimes against humanity or grave International Humanitarian Law (IHL) violations;
- The suspension of intelligence sharing, training and other security co‑operation that could materially assist unlawful acts
- Measures to ensure non‑recognition and non‑assistance in respect of Israel’s unlawful presence in the OPT, including review of its existing trade and investment relations with Israel and Israeli entities;
- Support for humanitarian relief and opposition to policies producing famine conditions;
- Full co‑operation with international accountability, including the ICC and the relevant UN Special Rapporteurs, among others.
Britain has played a vital role in Israeli military operations in Gaza, including but not limited to:
- The sale, supply and transfer of weapons that have been used to extinguish human life and destroy vital infrastructure in Gaza, the West Bank and beyond. This includes single individual export licences that have been supplied to Israel directly, and the indirect supply of components for F-35 fighter jets. Senior civil servants have exposed cultures of deception surrounding Britain’s assessment of Israel’s violations of International Humanitarian Law, which formed the basis of UK arms export licensing decisions. Similarly, the British government’s assessment of its legal duties regarding the prevention of genocide has relied on perverse methodologies that aim to shield the government from scrutiny.
- The performance of RAF surveillance flights over Gaza, and the role of British air bases in facilitating the transport, refuelling and maintenance of military equipment.
- The provision of political and diplomatic support, which has empowered Israel to commit atrocities with impunity. This comprises the dehumanisation of Palestinians in political rhetoric, the justification of Israel’s criminal actions (in particular, by invoking Israel’s “right to self-defence”), the hosting of Israeli officials, the failure to support international attempts at accountability (in relation to the ICJ and ICC), and the demonisation and criminalisation of international solidarity with the Palestinians.
- The failure to impose sanctions on Israel and use other economic and diplomatic instruments in adherence with its legal duty to bring about an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories. Britain’s continued political, diplomatic and economic support of Israel stands in stark contrast to its lack of support for humanitarian organisations and its failure to ensure the supply of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, including the failure to defend international institutions (as well as civilians on board a Gaza aid flotilla) from attacks.
The British government has failed in every single legal obligation outlined above. Britain’s failure to meet its legal obligations has contributed to the mass killing of Palestinian civilians and the wholesale destruction of civilian objects, the desecration of international law and the further erosion of Britain’s status as a nation committed to the rule of law in the international arena. Taking all these obligations together, the report concludes that the British government has failed in its fundamental obligation to prevent genocide and has been complicit in atrocity crimes. Evidence further suggests that in some instances the British government has even been an active participant in these crimes.
Recommendations
The report callson the UK government to end all military co-operation with Israel, including all arms exports, surveillance flights and intelligence exchange and training, joint operations and security cooperation; impose widespread economic sanctions, suspend its trade agreement with Israel, and impose a ban on all settlement products and services until it ends its illegal occupation; review all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation; issue widespread sanctions against senior members of the Israeli government and military; conduct investigations against British citizens who participated in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and the OPT; support South Africa’s submission at the ICJ in the case against Israel; support international efforts to enforce the ICJ ruling regarding Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories; support international accountability mechanisms by co-operating with the ICC and push for the execution of arrest warrants of officials wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity; stop the criminalisation of anti-genocide protest and de-proscribe Palestine Action; support Palestinian-led initiatives to rebuild Gaza, particularly in the health, education and food production sectors; establish a Palestinian Family Visa Scheme, modelled after the Ukrainian visa programme; restore funding to UNRWA as part of efforts to significantly expand humanitarian support for people in Gaza; join the Hague Group and adhere to the obligations it places on all participating states: to take all possible actions and enforce policies to end Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine and remove obstacles to the realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
In the interests of transparency, the UK government must also release full licensing and export data to clarify the nature of military shipments to Israel to date; publish all legal advice regarding the UK government’s assessment of genocide and its obligations to prevent it; cooperate with a full, official, independent public inquiry into any cooperation between the UK and Israel since October 2023. This inquiry must have the power to question ministers and officials involved in decision-making processes. Finally, it must provide the ICC with all surveillance footage it has collected during RAF overflights of Gaza.
Read a copy of the report here. Follow the press conference live here. Rewatch The Tribunal here – Day 1 and Day 2.
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