The UK could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza and could face legal action if it does not do more to “restrain” Israel, Tory MP Crispin Blunt has warned.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) – of which Mr Blunt is co-director – announced it has written a notice of intention to prosecute UK government officials for “aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza”.
Mr Blunt told Sky News he is “not sure [his] colleagues have grasped the legal peril they are in” and “everyone must act to restrain people” if they know war crimes are going to happen.
“If you know that a party is going to commit a war crime – and this forcible transfer of people is a precise breach of one of the statutes that governs international law and all states in this area – then you are making yourself complicit,” he said.
“And as international law has developed in this area, the fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime.”
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Image: The Israeli Defence Force has ordered 1.1 million people currently north of the Wadi Gaza bridge to move south
Palestinian ‘children killed’
Israel continues to pound densely-populated Gaza despite warnings over civilian casualties – with authorities saying 1,900 Palestinians, including 583 children, have been killed.
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Israel appears to be gearing up for a ground offensive in response to a violent attack launched by Hamas a week ago, during which hundreds of civilians and soldiers were killed and more than 100 people taken hostage.
The Israelis have also blocked the entry of goods into Gaza – which is home to 2.3 million people – and cut off electricity, leaving emergency services dangerously low on fuel.
And with the Egyptian border still closed and no humanitarian corridor agreed, Gazans can only flee further south through two main roads.
‘Where does this lead?’
“Of course our hearts all go out to the state of Israel and the people there for the appalling atrocity committed,” Mr Blunt said.
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The Israeli army has ordered people to leave the north of Gaza within 24 hours, with a possible ground offensive looming.
“But what we’re not allowed is witness one crime being piled on with another, which is going to make the situation worse but is also fundamentally wrong.”
He added Israel has “had a deal of exceptionalism and impunity from international law for a very long time now” and urged the UK to back UN calls for a ceasefire and lifting the total blockade.
“This has got to stop,” Mr Crispin said. “If in response to the atrocity of last Saturday is an illegal atrocity that is even worse in scale – where does this lead?”
Asked about the evacuation call, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told Sky News “people are adhering and listening”.
“We are continuing to increase our activities,” he said, adding it is important to “remember where we were just one week ago”.
“We were in the midst of this massacre taking place in our towns and we are determined to make sure this never happens again. Our mission now is to strike Hamas wherever they are.”
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Sky’s Defence and Security editor, Deborah Haynes, has visited the Be’eri kibbutz, close to Gaza, where more than 100 people were killed by Hamas, as devastated families still hope for the safe return of those who went missing.
Questioned on whether Israel should rethink the policy to evacuate people in such a short space of time, he added the IDF was “determined [to end] Hamas’s capabilities and safeguard the people of Israel”.
As Downing Street remains steadfast in its support for Israel, the UK’s political leaders have been accused of giving Israel the green light to attack Hamas without regard to international law.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, criticised the UK government for giving Israel a “carte blanche” by asserting it “has the right to defend itself”.
She told Sky News: “[The UK has] already given Israel carte blanche to do whatever it pleases, because look at the annexation that has been announced officially this year of large swathes of the West Bank.”
“Has anyone reacted to this? Not that I know of, other than in words and half-mouthed condemnations here and there.”
Heathrow Airport bosses had been warned of a potential substation failures less than a week before a major power outage closed the airport for a day, a committee of MPs has heard.
The chief executive of Heathrow Airline Operators’ Committee Nigel Wicking told MPs of the Transport Committee he raised issues about resilience on 15 March after cable and wiring took out lights on a runway.
A fire at an electricity substation in west London meant the power supply was disrupted to Europe’s largest airport for a day – causing travel chaos for around 200,000 passengers.
“I’d actually warned Heathrow of concerns that we had with regard to the substations and my concern was resilience”, Mr Wicking said.
“So the first occasion was to team Heathrow director on the 15th of the month of March. And then I also spoke to the chief operating officer and chief customer officer two days before regarding this concern.
“And it was following a number of, a couple of incidents of, unfortunately, theft, of wire and cable around some of the power supply that on one of those occasions, took out the lights on the runway for a period of time. That obviously made me concerned.”
Mr Wicking also said he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 could have been ready to receive repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.
However, Heathrow chief executive Thomas Woldbye said keeping the airport open during last month’s power outage would have been “disastrous”.
There was a risk of having “literally tens of thousands of people stranded in the airport, where we have nowhere to put them”, Mr Woldbye said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Another 23 female potential victims have reported that they may have been raped by Zhenhao Zou – the Chinese PhD student detectives believe may be one of the country’s most prolific sex offenders.
The Metropolitan Police launched an international appeal after Zou, 28, was convicted of drugging and raping 10 women following a trial at the Inner London Crown Court last month.
Detectives have not confirmed whether the 23 people who have come forward add to their estimates that more than 50 other women worldwide may have been targeted by the University College London student.
Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth said: “We have victims reaching out to us from different parts of the globe.
“At the moment, the primary places where we believe offending may have occurred at this time appears to be both in England, here in London, and over in China.”
Image: Metropolitan Police commander Kevin Southworth
Zou lived in a student flat in Woburn Place, near Russell Square in central London, and later in a flat in the Uncle building in Churchyard Row in Elephant and Castle, south London.
He had also been a student at Queen’s University Belfast, where he studied mechanical engineering from 2017 until 2019. Police say they have not had any reports from Belfast but added they were “open-minded about that”.
“Given how active and prolific Zou appears to have been with his awful offending, there is every prospect that he could have offended anywhere in the world,” Mr Southworth said.
“We wouldn’t want anyone to write off the fact they may have been a victim of his behaviour simply by virtue of the fact that you are from a certain place.
“The bottom line is, if you think you may have been affected by Zhenhao Zou or someone you know may have been, please don’t hold back. Please make contact with us.”
Image: Pic: Met Police
Zou used hidden or handheld cameras to record his attacks, and kept the footage and often the women’s belongings as souvenirs.
He targeted young, Chinese women, inviting them to his flat for drinks or to study, before drugging and assaulting them.
Zou was convicted of 11 counts of rape, with two of the offences relating to one victim, as well as three counts of voyeurism, 10 counts of possession of an extreme pornographic image, one count of false imprisonment and three counts of possession of a controlled drug with intent to commit a sexual offence, namely butanediol.
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Moment police arrest rapist student
Mr Southworth said: “Of those 10 victims, several were not identified so as we could be sure exactly where in the world they were, but their cases, nevertheless, were sufficient to see convictions at court.
“There were also, at the time, 50 videos that were identified of further potential female victims of Zhenhao Zou’s awful crimes.
“We are still working to identify all of those women in those videos.
“We have now, thankfully, had 23 victim survivors come forward through the appeal that we’ve conducted, some of whom may be identical with some of the females that we saw in those videos, some of whom may even turn out to be from the original indicted cases.”
Mr Southworth added: “Ultimately, now it’s the investigation team’s job to professionally pick our way through those individual pieces of evidence, those individual victims’ stories, to see if we can identify who may have been a victim, when and where, so then we can bring Zou to justice for the full extent of his crimes.”
Mr Southworth said more resources will be put into the investigation, and that detectives are looking to understand “what may have happened without wishing to revisit the trauma, but in a way that enables [the potential victims] to give evidence in the best possible way.”
The Metropolitan Police is appealing to anyone who thinks they may have been targeted by Zou to contact the force either by emailing survivors@met.police.uk, or via the major incident public portal on the force’s website.
An 11-year-old girl who went missing after entering the River Thames has been named as Kaliyah Coa.
An “extensive search” has been carried out after the incident in east London at around 1.30pm on Monday.
Police said the child had been playing during a school inset day and entered the water near Barge House Causeway, North Woolwich.
A recovery mission is now said to be under way to find Kaliyah along the Thames, with the Metropolitan Police carrying out an extensive examination of the area.
Image: Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope in North Woolwich leading into the Thames
Chief Superintendent Dan Card thanked members of the public and emergency teams who responded to “carry out a large-scale search during a highly pressurised and distressing time”.
He also confirmed drone technology and boats were being used to “conduct a thorough search over a wide area”.
He added: “Our specialist officers are supporting Kaliyah’s family through this deeply upsetting time and our thoughts go out to all those impacted by what has happened.”
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“Equally we appreciate this has affected the wider community who have been extremely supportive. You will see extra officers in the area during the coming days.”
On Monday, Kerry Benadjaoud, a 62-year-old resident from the area, said she heard of the incident from her next-door neighbour, who “was outside doing her garden and there was two little kids running, and they said ‘my friend’s in the water'”.
When she arrived at the scene with a life ring, a man told her he had called the police, “but he said at the time he could see her hands going down”.
Barge House Causeway is a concrete slope that goes directly into the River Thames and is used to transport boats.
Residents pointed out that it appeared to be covered in moss and was slippery.