Exclusive: Israel 'targeted civilians' in Gaza, UK government staff told
Diplomatic relations between Britain and Israel have plummeted in the past few months, as demonstrated earlier this year when Israel blocked two Labour MPs from entering the country.
In May, the Labour government suspended free trade agreement talks with the country over its expanded operation in Gaza.
In June, Britain even sanctioned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich over "their repeated incitement of violence against Palestinian communities".
Just last week, Israel's historic ally announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state in September, following France's commitment that it would do so just days earlier.
Now, Middle East Eye can reveal new details of how discourse has changed even more dramatically inside the government.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
Last week, a post seen by MEE on the Cabinet Office's incident hub, a monitoring tool for government staff, reported that the "IDF targeted civilians near an aid distribution centre near Rafah, Gaza".
No Labour minister has ever publicly accused the Israeli military of targeting civilians, which is a naked war crime.
In fact, the government has never even accused Israel of breaking international law.
When British Foreign Secretary David Lammy suggested Israel had done so in Gaza in March, Downing Street quickly rowed back on the comments.
But government staff have now been informed the Israeli military targeted civilians.
"The Cabinet Office's incident hub draws from open source reporting, but the report would have to be considered genuine to be posted," a source in the UK government told MEE.
It does not reflect a change in government policy or the government's official position.
The source added: "It's rare to see this discourse in government, that the IDF targeted civilians."
The British Foreign Office said: "This reporting is inaccurate. The platform points to open source and third-party information from around the world and does not reflect wider government views or assessments."
Sharing intelligence on Gaza with Israel
At least 859 Palestinians were killed while attempting to obtain aid at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites between 27 May and 31 July - most by the Israeli military - according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Last week, Human Rights Watch accused Israeli forces operating outside US-backed aid centres in war-torn Gaza of routinely killing Palestinian civilians seeking food, as well as using starvation as a weapon of war.
"US-backed Israeli forces and private contractors have put in place a flawed, militarised aid distribution system that has turned aid distributions into regular bloodbaths," said Belkis Wille, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
"Israeli forces are not only deliberately starving Palestinian civilians, but they are now gunning them down almost every day as they desperately seek food for their families."
In late July, Lammy condemned "the killing of civilians seeking to meet their most basic needs". He also said a "litany of horrors" was taking place in Gaza.
Such strong and emotive rhetoric from the British foreign secretary would have been unthinkable a year ago.
Internally, government discourse has moved even further in its assessment of Israel's actions.
At the same time, however, Britain is continuing to assist the Israeli military in Gaza.
On Tuesday, government sources confirmed that Britain continues to fly spy planes over Gaza and share intelligence with Israel, according to The Times.
Royal Air Force aircraft have conducted hundreds of surveillance flights over Gaza throughout Israel's war on the besieged enclave.
In response to questions about these flights, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has repeatedly insisted they are solely in support of "hostage rescue".
But as former Major-General Charlie Herbert, who served in the British Army for 35 years, told The Times: "It's all good and proper saying they are handing over intelligence for the purposes for locating hostages, but in reality that intelligence is just as likely to be used [to target] Hamas and others."
It remains to be seen whether Britain will continue to share intelligence on Gaza with a military that government staff are told targets and kills civilians in the enclave.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
