in-cyprus 5 September 2025
A two-day Gaza Tribunal examining Israel’s conduct in Gaza and Britain’s alleged role in the conflict began in London on Thursday, bringing together witnesses, scholars and healthcare workers to provide testimony on UK involvement.
The event features testimony from medical professionals who worked in Gaza, Palestinian journalists and aid workers, examining what organisers describe as “Britain’s role in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.”
Shahd Hammouri, a lecturer in international law at the University of Kent, said bringing witnesses to testify represents a “moral duty” and described the current situation as part of a “long project of settler colonisation.”
British surgeon testifies on deliberate targeting of Gaza hospitals
Nick Maynard, a British surgeon who recently returned from his third trip to Gaza, testified that Israel deliberately targets hospitals and healthcare workers in the territory.
“Hospitals are being targeted deliberately, I have seen that daily,” said Maynard, a consultant gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospital who worked at Nasser Hospital in Gaza during his recent visit.
Maynard stated that more than 450 healthcare workers have been abducted, with many others killed or injured in Israeli attacks. He noted that Nasser Hospital was bombed two weeks after his departure.
Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed, evacuated to Ireland in February 2025, described the situation as an extension of conditions Palestinians faced during the 20-year blockade of Gaza. Abed stated that over 250 journalists have been killed in Gaza and criticised international media coverage as favouring Israel.
UK surveillance flights from Cyprus face scrutiny
The tribunal addressed questions over UK surveillance flights over Gaza, hundreds of which have reportedly departed from Cyprus. Britain states these flights aim to locate captives held by Hamas, the group governing Gaza.
However, the Action on Armed Violence group reported in March that “with no parliamentary oversight or public scrutiny, it remains unclear how much British intelligence gathered from these flights has been shared with Israel.”
The group noted that “whether these flights have also conducted Target Acquisition over the occupied Palestinian territory… in addition to intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance, remains unknown.”
The organisation expressed “grave concerns as to the nature of these flights within the broader context of Israel’s violations of international law and the UK’s continued military collaboration with Israel, including the continued supply of arms such as components for F-35 jets, which have been used in Israel’s widespread bombardment of civilian zones.”
Hala Sabbah, co-founder of the Sameer Project aid initiative, criticised Britain’s humanitarian response, stating: “The UK is not only actively killing us, they refuse us.” She contrasted Britain’s limited acceptance of Gazan children for medical treatment with countries like Italy and Spain.
Since October 2023, at least 63,746 people have been killed and 161,245 wounded across Gaza, according to health authorities. Israel’s military campaign began after Hamas led an incursion into southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and taking more than 200 captive.
The Hamas-run health ministry, staffed by medical professionals, does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children comprise around half of the dead. UN agencies and independent experts consider the ministry’s figures the most reliable casualty estimates. Israel disputes them but has not provided its own toll.
Famine has been officially confirmed for the first time in Gaza as of August 2025, marking the first time famine has been officially declared in the Middle East.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
The International Association of Genocide Scholars has declared that Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide under international law.
