Zeynep ConkarWhen Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar arrived in London earlier this week, he was met not just with UK Foreign Minister David Lammy’s diplomatic handshake – but with an urgent legal request demanding his arrest for complicity in war crimes.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed a private meeting between Sa’ar and his British counterpart, where Middle East issues were discussed. UK officials face criticism for hosting him amid ongoing international legal scrutiny of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Human rights groups, including the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) filed an application on Wednesday to UK prosecutors and a magistrate's court. The application stated that Sa’ar bears direct responsibility for atrocities committed during Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza.
The case shows that Sa’ar aided and abetted grave breaches of international humanitarian law in Palestine including torture, wilful killing and extensive destruction of property.
Among the central incidents of the case is the devastating months-long assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which was besieged, attacked, and ultimately torched by Israeli forces.
According to detailed legal submissions seen by TRT World, the case links Sa’ar to the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the torture of its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.
“As a senior member of Israel’s security cabinet alongside Benjamin Netanyahu, Sa’ar is deeply implicated in the collective decisions that led to mass civilian death and suffering following October 7,” says GLAN, a UK-based legal non-profit organisation.
“His central role in shaping and defending the government’s military policy makes him a key figure in the leadership responsible for a campaign the ICJ has found plausibly genocidal,” GLAN tells TRT World.
“The Foreign Ministry, under Sa’ar’s leadership, posted content in support of the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital…Individual attacks launched throughout this period involved quadcopters and other aerial attacks which killed and injured doctors and patients,” GLAN explains.
In an exclusive interview with TRT World, renowned Israeli lawyer Dr Omer Shatz discusses his recent submission to the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing Israeli officials of incitement to genocide.
Eyewitness accounts, audiovisual materials
As part of the case, legal documents reviewed by TRT World detail a sustained military siege on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza from October to December 2024. Over nearly three months, Israeli forces are reported to have deprived the hospital of essential supplies, carried out drone strikes targeting medical personnel, and ultimately stormed and set fire to large parts of the facility.
The hospital came under repeated attack, including a November 21 drone strike that disabled oxygen and power systems, putting newborns in the ICU at risk, and a series of quadcopter assaults that injured doctors and engineers attempting repairs.
Witness accounts confirm no armed combatants were present in the facility, challenging any military justification by the Israeli side for the massacre.
The legal basis rests on violations of international humanitarian law, including willfully causing great suffering to protected persons –patients and medical staff– and wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure without military necessity, which are also crimes under the jurisdiction of England and Wales.
Legal documents reviewed include accounts of the detention of Dr Abu Safiya, a senior Palestinian physician abducted by Israeli forces on 27 December 2024 following their bloody attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The accounts describe upon arrival at the Sde Teiman detention facility, Dr Abu Safiya was forcibly stripped, tightly shackled, and made to sit on sharp gravel for several hours.
He was repeatedly subjected to physical assault, including beatings with batons and electric shock devices, and prolonged exposure to conditions that could cause serious harm.
Separate witness accounts reviewed by TRT World included in the legal filings point to a broader pattern of destruction and targeting in Gaza that amounts to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
These include deliberate attacks on hospitals, food supply networks, and civilian infrastructure with no clear military justification.
Evidence cited in the case includes eyewitness accounts, audiovisual material showing strikes on protected sites, and public statements made by senior Israeli officials.
Among the materials are documents concerning Saar’s role in the Israeli Security Cabinet during the war on Gaza, which are relevant to assessing his criminal liability, particularly given his public statements encouraging the genocide.
“It is clear that the systematic poisoning of the younger generation in Palestinian society (in Gaza just like in Judea and Samaria) eliminates any chance for peace. A root canal treatment is required,” Saar had said.
Secret meeting?
While Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Sa’ar’s visit to the UK and his meeting with newly appointed Foreign Secretary Lammy, British officials have refrained from commenting on the trip.
“Sa’ar is directly linked to mass death, destruction, and suffering in Palestine…UK officials are failing to abide by the law by offering handshakes instead of handcuffs,” GLAN’s Director Gearoid O Cuinn says.
“Gideon Sa’ar cannot walk freely in London while Palestinian civilians lie buried under rubble ... No official title can excuse these atrocities,” Dyab Abou Jahjah, chair of the Hind Rajab Foundation, adds.
The legal case is being pursued jointly by GLAN and the Hind Rajab Foundation, alongside unnamed partners whose identities remain confidential due to security concerns.
Additional evidence in support of the lawsuit comes from British-Palestinian surgeon Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta and public health expert Dr Azra Zyada, both of whom have spent significant time working in Gaza.
Saar also faces a separate complaint submitted to the International Criminal Court, implicating him in the forced displacement of civilians in Gaza and the targeting of critical infrastructure.
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