Former Supreme Court justices among 800 lawyers to call for UK sanctions on Israel over Gaza ‘genocide’

A group of more than 800 lawyers, including a pair of former Supreme Court justices, have written to the prime minister to urge him to impose sanctions on Israel.

In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, the signatories said “urgent and decisive action” was required to comply with the UK’s “fundamental international legal obligations” and to “avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza”.

They claimed: “We write owing to our deep concern over the worsening catastrophe in the occupied Palestinian territory (‘oPt’, Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem) and our commitment to upholding the rule of law.

"Serious violations of international law are being committed and are further threatened by Israel in the oPt.”

The letter accused Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law” more widely.

In support of these claims, it cited statements from Israeli ministers, including far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich’s statement that the IDF would “conquer, cleanse and stay [in Gaza] – until Hamas is destroyed.”

Israel has consistently denied accusations of genocide and war crimes and insists that it complies with international law in its conduct of the war in Gaza.

The letter further claimed that Israel’s plan is to “forcibly and permanently displace the population of Gaza to small areas of the Gaza Strip, and coerce their emigration to other countries, in grave violation of international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law”.

The Israeli government has long maintained a policy of voluntary emigration from Gaza and refutes any suggestion of coercion or ethnic cleansing.

Signatories include Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, both formerly of the Supreme Court, as well as a number of former Court of Appeal justices and more than 70 KCs.

Additionally, there are around 100 founders, partners or directors of legal firms or organisations and several hundred barristers, solicitors and legal academics.

It comes after the foreign secretary, David Lammy, announced that the UK would suspend trade talks with Israel over the new Gaza offensive and impose a raft of sanctions on individuals and organisations linked to illegal West Bank settlements.

However, he stopped short of placing sanctions on Israeli officials, particularly Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, despite calls from Labour and opposition MPs.

Meanwhile, during the course of the debate, the claim from the UN’s humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher that 14,000 Gazan children could die of starvation within 48 was repeated no less than 13 times.

This figure has since been debunked as the projection for the number of cases of severe starvation, not deaths, over an entire year if there is no change in the humanitarian situation in the Strip.

As of yet, none of the MPs have publicly corrected the record in the House, which is currently in recess.